Today we’d like to introduce you to Ben Van Beusekom.
Ben, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started working in gas masks about 15 years ago when I became more interested in everything from climate to self-identity. I started to explore the idea that everyone wears a mask and how honest a mask can be. What a mask can reveal about someone is quite remarkable. I wanted to explore this idea of what we bury in ourselves within our own minds versus what we show on the outside and how that is perceived by society, what that means to people when interacting socially on a broader scale. With this, my interest grew into pushing the norms of what is accepted by pushing the use of color and form to create something that conventionally may be considered deformed and ugly but at the same time is stunning. I want to make people think about form versus veneer or veneer versus personality and heart. This journey of thinking led me to change in how I approach my art and how I create it. I started to layer everything because I thought it was a subtle way to nod to how we as people are layered. Within these layers, you will find the old and beat up to the stunning and beautiful of objects that interact and create what I hope to be the perfect piece.
Today the pieces that I create are as much of my past journey as they are about how I am forward-thinking in where I want to go next. They encompass the crystals, beads, old and new. They are fantasy and gas masks. They are deformed and beautiful. But they are more refined in what they say. They are more focused in their individual message and with that, I feel much stronger. I have taken 15 years of learning and distilled it into a refined way of building that, for me is the pinnacle of what I have always wanted to do. Evoke emotion and create thinking.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a smooth road at all. But if it was would I be any good? When I started on the masks, I remember people sending me hateful messages because my art was made from gas masks and random stuff and they had lost a loved one in a war and “How dare I disgrace…” but they just didn’t get it. And then I would think…” well I made them think… I got a reaction… so maybe my art did what it needed.” I struggled a lot with the how-to aspect of attaching things and building onto a gas mask successfully, getting the look and balance to be just right and have that perfect feeling of unease and beauty. And then, once I got the masks built getting people to look at them. Galleries had zero interest in gas masks until the pandemic hit. They no interest in the climate or social side of the mask. They didn’t care about identity or any of it. And then if they did in fact, love my work, I never seem to have enough social media following for them to want to host an exhibition. It was a constant struggle and eventually, I just stopped because I really was creating the work for me. And it was at that point that people started to notice my work and take an interest. But the road was bumpy. And hungry.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Both personally and professionally, I’m known for my color and line in my art and design. I have always had a strong sense of how to put those elements together and have them play off each other in a way that they compete but sit with ease. When people see my work, they know it belongs to me because it’s big, bright and over the top. The colors are tight but sometimes compete at the same time. It’s known for being a very out-of-control, controlled look. It tends to have odd shapes that connect in odd ways and ‘extend’ off the viewing plane. I am most proud of my latest solo exhibition, “Bombshell: Masquerading Warfare”. This was a very difficult show for me to put out. It was so deeply personal to me at a time during a pandemic when life was already so hard for so many. Then to exhibit a collective of crystal and bead encrusted (amputees wearing) gas masks I wondered if I had pushed too far. But as I have gotten older, my art has become sensitively unapologetic and the response was incredible. I even landed on the cover of a newspaper! So, one just never knows what to expect or how people will receive your story.
One thing that I never do is give a (written) definition as to why I have created a piece at an exhibition. Why I have created something shouldn’t really matter all that much as my story, once turned over to the public, now becomes an entirely different narrative. It’s now the publics’ personal connection to what they experience from my art and that makes their takeaway that much more meaningful. Does that set me apart from others? I don’t know. What I do know is that I look at my art as a brutally honest way to approach problems in a form that most probably think is crazy by taking a mask that holds a stigma surrounded by war and death and cover it with feathers, beads and crystals to try and bring awareness to social issues.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
The list of those who have helped along the way is long and loved for sure. A dear friend long gone inspired me through a picture of him in the desert with his Army troop to start with the gas mask. And then my best friend Karl is one of my biggest muses and critics. I can run any design or question by him, and we can creatively problem solve it until we have beat out ten new ideas. My family has always supported my journey. My manager Shanon has gotten me the shows needed to help give me that push. He has also helped with the full brand development. This has been so helpful as I am an artist, not a businessman. And, of course my husband Ryan has been so supportive as I literally live in my studio sometimes for weeks on end and he gets it. He supports me through this and offers me advice and help. He makes me coffee and is just there when I need that extra push. The list of who of names would be pages long, and they all deserve a shout-out. So, to all who have supported me on this journey, Thank you. You are loved.
Contact Info:
- Email: benvanbeusekom@yahoo.com
- Website: www.benvanbeusekom.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benvanbeusekom
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Benvanbeusekomart
Image Credits
Jeff Nickel
