Gleb Bas
Gleb Bas (1980, Kiev/Ukraine) has developed a unique technique of printing oil-painted images over previously painted pictures. In this manner, he creates works that consist of several pictorial layers. Although he greatly values a precise, academic approach in his paintings, due to the unforeseeable result of the printing process the final result is governed by chance. These works challenge the viewers’ perception, making it impossible to grasp the rendered images simultaneously, and inducing these to focus on individual parts of the composition. The element of time thus becomes a central aspect of the works. Yet these do not only address aesthetic, perceptual, or temporal questions. Inspired by the paintings of the Renaissance, Bas’s subtly melancholy works revolve around the human being and the ephemeral state of human existence in our accelerating, media-pervaded times.
Gleb Bas studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Münster, Germany, and the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, Israel, and held a scholarship at Cité des Arts in Paris, France. Currently he lives and works in Berlin. © Belinda Grace Gardner