Boris de Beijer - Artefactum 3000

Museum JAN presents the first solo museum exhibition of artist Boris de Beijer (1986). De Beijer graduated from the Rietveld Academy and has since led an interdisciplinary practice in which his work navigates between the functional and the autonomous. Craftsmanship is central to his work. De Beijer enjoys mastering new techniques and works with various materials. He created new works especially for Museum JAN, some in collaboration with glassblowers from Amsterdam's Van Tetterode Glass Studio. Antiquity is a key source of inspiration for De Beijer.

In Artefactum 3000, he creates a world where elements from an ancient Roman city are recognizable, with a nod to a distant future.

Love for Craftsmanship The love for classical craftsmanship is at the core of De Beijer’s work. He wants to know everything about the materials he works with: how they behave under different treatments, how they interact with other materials, and how they can be applied. "For many artists and designers, the artisanal element is one of the least glamorous aspects of their work. They prefer to talk about the grand, sometimes magical moment of inspiration. But for me, this inspiration is not possible without first immersing myself in the 'dirty' work. Ideas come to me by diving directly into the material," says De Beijer. "Craftsmanship has been wrongly relegated to an underdog position in the art and design field, while many great artists and designers, from antiquity to today, are guided and inspired by it. For me, it’s an inescapable recurring theme."

Experimenting with Glass De Beijer is most interested in learning the ancient techniques from Greek and Roman civilizations, "where it all began. From that research into material and technique, my ideas are born." He plays with the idea of "grandeur" by replicating works from antiquity in non-traditional materials. In thrift stores, for example, he finds (copies of) classical figurines that inspire him, or he creates his own (glass) version of an Etruscan vase with stamp knobs, based on an image from a catalogue. "Craftsmanship is central to me, but it is both used and abused." For his new works, De Beijer experimented with glass. In collaboration with glass specialists Frederic Van Overschelde and Sander van der Wal from the Van Tetterode Glass Studio, he mastered the craft, resulting in stunning glass objects.