Bas van den Hurk

Artist Bas Van Den Hurk’s silkscreens are covered in washes of color, their markings as delicate as shadows. Hazy and diffuse, they rarely have a fixed center. Instead, the compositions appear as allover fields of subtly expressed forms and tones. His work is process based, a reflection of the actions and collaborations that went into its making.

Van Den Hurk’s artistic practice is a continually evolving intellectual inquiry, one that is perpetually unresolved. As a reflection of this, he considers all of his works to be technically unfinished; he believes that all artworks are in a permanent state of instability and development. A frequent collaborator with other artists, he says, “I’m in a permanent dialogue; my works can develop and appear and reappear in new contexts. I can discuss them in new ways; I can paint over them or reuse them.”

Van Den Hurk is concerned with balancing his creative autonomy with his knowledge of the artists and artworks that have preceded him. “I want to create my own conditions or rules, but I’m not nostalgic or naïve,” he says. “We live in a time that is dominated by networks and by media; I’m very aware of that. I strive to detangle myself from these contexts, while at the same time I’m aware that this is impossible.”

Submitted by NAVA Contemporary