Beazarility’s Streets of Amsterdam

Beazarility is the artist name of Lars Brehm, creative designer and mixed media (z)artist in daily life. Zart caught the attention of Beazarility just in time. Not because he will be on a long holiday, on the contrary, but because of recent successes. Brehm may soon belong to the select group of most wanted artists as he will be exposing his work at the prestigious art fair Art Basel Miami as a member of the Amsterdam Street Artists collective (ASA).  He is invited to participate in the collective as an artist because his style and motives as expressed in the diverse range of works are deeply rooted in street art. Or “the street” as he says himself.

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Street Art

Who takes a look at the work of Beazarility will immediately see that anything he creates breathes Amsterdam. The city itself is at the centre of his work an defines both form and content. The streets of Amsterdam and street life come back on a very regular basis. Hence Brehm at a certain point was labeled as “street”.  Brehm who is basically a graphic designer, was a bit surprised about the invitation by ASA at first, as he never thought he was actually making work that would fit in the category street art.

One is inclined to associate street art with graffiti art. All hand work. He tells us that he felt a bit intimidated in the beginning by the skills of his ASA colleagues. “ The other artists”, Brehm explains,”are all working with paint and spray cans, they can do a live performance,  I just draw and scan or use photo’s then in the end i put everything together by the computer. I am a digital artist. This different way of working made me a bit nervous at first”.  Brehm’s ties with the street art scene are most obviously present in his works Skull Onbenul, The Eye of the City and Amstellodami Prostitutia. Whatever label anyone wants to put on Brehm, Zart loves him anyway.

Recurrent Motives– Skulls, Red Light District and Repetition

The skull seems to be a recurrent element in Brehm’s work. When asked about the skull motive Brehm says” I find skulls very impressive for some reason. On the one hand it is a dark symbol. I like dark elements, especially in combination with colour. To contrast it. To colour the dark. Skull Onbenul is inspired by the Mexican sugar skull “. The sugar skull is part of the traditional Mexican holiday, Dia de Muertos. Day of the dead symbolises death and rebirth.

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Skull onbenul

Skull Onbenul means so much as ‘skull ignoramus’. This  is a work that has a special place in its creators heart. Brehm kick started his career as a mixed media artist with exposing a work at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam during the Museum Night’s “50 minutes of fame” in 2007. While most artist have to work for years to get picked up by any museum, this Zartist just sent some work in for a contest and was singled out right from the start by the Stedelijk Museum. This piece was Skull Onbenul.

Red Light- an ode

The transition from one thing into another, from the old into something new, from darkness to light is obvious in Brehm’s work but very explicit in Amstellodami Prostitutia and Stranger at Red Light. The first work is an ode to Amsterdam’s most famous area, where as the second incorporates a firm critique as well. Brehm’s works expresses a nostalgic feeling on the vanishing of the oldest part of the city and at the same shows it in its contemporary form.  A clever blend of the old world and the new. The city of Amsterdam, especially the Red Light District, has been radically transformed. The Red Light District has been heavily under attack and is now reduced to a few sanitised streets. “Amstellodami Prostitutia celebrates the raw edges of the city, the dirt and the vile”, Brehm explains. “This raw side has been an inspiration ever since I was a boy. It is a pity that this part of city life slowly disappears. If one can still find it at all. When I see a movie in which people fantasise about Amsterdam, I realise at the same time how privileged we are to live here.  I try to give the old red Light and its new form a place in my work” Brehm finishes.

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…a critique

Brehm at the same time acknowledges that the famous district has a dark side as well. He is nostalgic and critical at the same time. He vision is shown in Stranger at Red Light. The image draws the eye of the viewer literally into a black hole. It mirrors the feeling a stranger in Amsterdam must have when he wonders through the night, crosses the bridge to the Red Light District and finds himself suddenly in a “black hole”.   It creates a feeling of estrangement and makes you feel lost. Brehm makes you literally go wondering around in the dark here.

Repetition

Another motif we see in the work of Beazarility is repetition. Brehm’s love for repetitive patterns becomes very clear in The Eye of the City. The repetitive pattern of the houses and its round form mirror the architecture of the city that is build in a round form around the canals. “I am a graphic designer after all, i like patterns and to go wild with colour”.

More?

Who wants to see more of Beazarility can contact Zart or have a look at Brehm’s website.  Brehm will be up to some interesting projects in the near future. He plans to launch a nostalgic t-shirt line and of course be busy with preparing the Amsterdam Street Art project. We will keep you posted!

zart beazarility blog repetition

Zart: www.zart.nu
Amsterdam Street Art: https://www.crowdaboutnow.nl/asagoesmiami
Beazarility: http://brehmstorm.nl

 

Renting art is painless

Renting art is painless.

5 Good reasons to rent an artwork

The main reason why people buy art is simply because it makes one feel good. Renting art can make you feel even better. Buying art could be compared to buying clothes. It involves a risk. You just bought that great suit. When you get home, you discover that there is no matching shirt, the sleeves are too short and doubt settles in. Was your purchase worth the money? Unfortunately the receipt disappeared mysteriously. Taking the suit back to the store is no longer an option. As a result you feel uncertain, frustrated or even angry. If you buy art, you might end up feeling the same way. In that case, why do you not consider to rent an artwork? Renting art is absolutely painless.
5 good reasons to rent instead of purchase a work:

1. Impulse Buying is history

We all know that feeling: in the spur of the moment you take that unplanned decision to buy something. Once you purchased the piece, there is no way back and you start to doubt your decision. When you decide to rent a painting, there is no such pain. At Zart we help you to make the right decision without a financial risk.

2. A fixed price

How do you know the work you bought is not overpriced? How can you decide upon its value? The truth is that you can never be sure the price its worth the value. As a result you will probably override your budget. Renting a work avoids the question of price and value all together. When you rent a piece at Zart you get it for a fixed price, namely: €25,- a month.

3. A reliable partner and good advice

Most art lovers who want to buy a work, do a lot of research first. What they find is a lot of different information about a piece of art coming from a lot of shady sources. This creates insecurity. How do you know a work is real? How do you know it has not been stolen? In Zart you will find a reliable partner. When you rent from Zart, you know what you get, where the work comes from, and how many prints have been made.

4. Taste

Collecting art is a matter of taste. We don’t doubt your good taste, but your partner, colleagues or flatmates may do. Renting art is painless with respect to making choices: you can’t go wrong. If others object to the work of your choice, Zart offers the possibility to take back the work.

5. Instant make-over

Sometimes a space just needs a new look. Or you may be relocating and the new building has a totally different atmosphere then the old one. The old works just do not add anything to the new space. In that case renting a few works is attractive. It is an affordable way to quickly give any place an instant contemporary look and feel after your personal taste. See our latest collection of prints at www.zart.nu