Hans Op de Beeck was born on March 6, 1969 in Turnhout. Having completed his master’s degree in Visual Arts at Hogeschool Sint-Lukas Brussel, he attended post-graduate lectures at Flanders Fine Arts University in Antwerp and at Rijksakademie Amsterdam. Later, he was selected for the MoMA PS1 Studio program and moved to New York, where he continued to work for a year. Op de Beeck teaches as a visiting lecturer at many art schools, universities and graduate programs.
Op de Beeck is inspired by his memories, family and his own children in his artistic practice. Additionally, he tries to explain with his work everything that belongs to man, sometimes using universal archetypes, and other times very personal objects for him. With his monotonous, gray sculptures, he creates moments in which the viewer, in wonder and silence, turns within.
In his sculptures produced mainly of polyester, wood, resin and bronze, he petrifies objects and figures of daily life, which can be considered as banalities but have deep and special personal meanings. In many of his works, he refers to the shortness of life, to the moment and to the concept of time. Versatile artist Op de Beeck, who works with different media such as video, drawing, photography and painting, also has a close relationship with music; the artist designs stage and costumes for theater and opera. His giant, spatial installations like “The Library” are sometimes even used as a stage for theater plays and performances. The artist creates art for the “here and now” as in theater productions, only petrifying the moment instead.
Hans Op de Beeck lives and works in Brussels.
After his first major solo exhibition in 2004 at GEM in The Hague, Netherlands, the artist has held exhibitions in many important art institutions including Musée National d’Art Moderne - Centre Pompidou (France); Kunsthalle Krems (Austria); Lahey Çağdaş Sanat Müzesi (The Netherlands); Tate Modern (UK); MUHKA Contemporary Art Museum (Belgium); Centraal Museum (The Netherlands); Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (USA); Kunstmuseum Thun (İsviçre); Centro de Arte Caja de Burgos (Spain); Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg (Germany); Fondazione Museo Pino Pascali (Italy); The Reina Sofia (Spain); Scottsdale Contemporary Art Museum (USA); Towada Art Center (Japan); Shanghai Art Center (China) and Bonn Art Museum (Germany). Hans Op de Beeck’s works have been exhibited in important art events such as the Venice Biennial (Italy); Shanghai Biennial (China); Singapore Biennial (Singapore); Aichi Triennial (Japan); Art Basel Miami Beach (USA); Art Basel Unlimited (Switzerland) and Setouchi Triennial.