Interview with Bas Louter

Q) So, can you tell me a little about yourself? Full name, age, some background info, etc?

A) My name is Bas Louter, I am 34, I live and work in Amsterdam since 1992. I was born in Alkmaar situated in the north of Holland.

Q)How did you get started making art?
A) I started a creativity-cours in my hometown, it was fun, it made me apply for a teacher-degree in painting and drawing. In this school I was drawing a lot of still-life and nudes, I learnt to work with paint. It was an intense and great time.

Q)How would you describe your art?

A)The spine of my work is drawing., out of black and white drawings I build installations. The works look like large-scale absurd theatres about to explode or crumble down. The works are monumental and vulnerable at the same time. Since one year I restricted myself to one subject, portrait. I wanted to go deeper into a fascination I have there for longer time. I am making large portraits of historical figures, the one being forgotten or unknown.

Q)Where do you get the inspiration for your art?

A)Books, music, and movies.

Q)What are you working on now?

A) I am working on three upcoming solo-exhibitions in Amsterdam, Berlin and Los Angeles . I started making a series of new portraits in my atelier.

Q)How do you approach the creation of a new piece... how does everything come together?

A)I start with my archive of images, I go to libraries, browse the internet, dig into my archive. From the images out of the archive I build little constructions, small scaled try outs for the monumental works. Then I start drawing,, I draw in sessions, more drawings in one session. I draw a lot but the drawings tend to develop slow. I draw with large quantities of charcoal, I continuously put it on and of the paper, for this I use different ways, I have a whole range of different erasers, I use different pieces of cloth, the vacuum cleaner I use directly on the paper when I want to take drastic measurements.
Out of the series of drawings I build installations, from the flat surface of the drawing I construct installations or sculptural works. In my work there is a constant shift from two to three dimensional.

Q) What's your favorite medium to work in, and why?

A) I really love charcoal, it has character, it does what it wants, it has much variety and colour, it is simple, nice and dry,,… I really dislike glossy paints. I like dust.

Q) Do you collect anything?

A)I collect LP’s, not in a obsessive way though.

Q) Is your work all hand done? Or do you use any computer tools to help out?

A)All hand done, my archive I keep it in my computer.

Q) What, in your opinion, are the best and worst places to exhibit artwork?

A)A Amsterdam coffeeshop is probably the worst,

Q) What are your artistic influences?

A)Writers, Yukio Mishima, Martin Amis, J.G. Ballard, Louis Ferdinand Celine
Music, Joy Division, Kool Keith, Autechre, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Chris Whitley
Movies: Seven Samurai, Scanners, The Shining, Good Fellas, City of Gods.

Q) How are the reactions on your work in general ?

A)People are usually surprised when they haven’t seen my work in real life before, the scale and manual labour is more present, its just more physical and raw then pictures of the work.


Q) What are you doing when you are not creating art?

A) I cook, swim, run, read and spend time with my girlfriend.

Q)What are some of the greatest challenges that you think artists face today?

A)To create work and concentration without money or time pressure

Q) What is freedom to you as an artist?

A)To create your own restrictions within the body of work you make.

Q) Are there any particular works you've done that stand out as your favorites?

A)In the body of works I make there are moments when things fall together , its like you’re just looking how a puzzle falls together. This works are usually my favourites for a while.

Q) What it the coolest thing you have seen recently while wandering the streets?

A)Amsterdam is beautiful in October, a lot of wind and rain, it smells great. In the evening when I drive my bike through the city it can be so quiet that you just hear the sound of the tires hitting the street-surface

Q) Do you carry a notebook? Do you draw in public?

A)No usually I cut things out, put it in my archive.
I used to make large-scale murals on the spot of exhibition-spaces before, it was a kind of sport, putting a lot of pressure in a short amount of time while people coming in and out.

Later I stopped this way of working, I don’t want to perform as an artist, I am more the person in between the audience. I love seeing concerts or theatre, I have a fascination there.


Q) Who are your favourite artists & Your favourite galleries?

A)Artists: Oyfind Fahlstrom, Joep van Liefland, Raha Raissnia, Thomas Zipp,
Galleries: Deitch projects N.Y. , Fette’s gallery L.A.

Q) Do you get emotionally attached to your work and do you miss your work when it is sold?
A)Yes I do get attached, it never lasts extremely long.

Q)Your contacts….E-mail…links

A) baslouter@hotmailcom
www.baslouter.com
www.fette-gallery.com
www.spaceforartists.nl
www.emmelinedemooij.com