BAN
'Why?
No idea. Just have to occasionally. Creates a pleasant surrounding.
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Hobby or work?
I find it fantastic to work at this, also the feeling when it's finished. I have sold several over the years, including in exhibitions.
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But I never really followed through with it - money also had to be made and this work doesn't pay enough.
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In my later work, the use of glue and paper as a form of paint has many advantages. Dictionaries give a beautiful skin structure - there are different thicknesses to the letters on a page and this reminds me of human skin. Old books, yellowed books, wrapping paper, gift paper, coloured paper, envelopes, blueprint paper, newspapers... It's fascinating how they coexist and form something.
I am also dyslexic and love devouring books.'
BAN is born and raised a Rotterdammer. The year was 1962, the month March, the day the first - a Thursday and it was snowing. He has been active as an artist since 1966.
After attending various schools (primary, retail, MTS furniture) he went to the Art Academy Rotterdam, a student of Rien Bout. Afterwards he was co -founder of Kunst Collectief Kaos.
In the late 1970s he worked at Carlier (office and art supplies store) and Termeulen warehouse. In the 1980s he did his military service in the navy, after which he worked in mechanical ventilation.
In the 1990s he worked at Scrap (Foundation for Creative Use of Waste Products), the Ro Theater and the Rotterdamse Schouwburg (technician specialised in location theatre).
In 2002 he emigrated to Ireland where he did lighting design for Kilkenny Arts Festival and worked in a garden centre in Clonmel and as chief technician at The Source Arts Centre, Thurles.
Back in Rotterdam in 2014, he worked as a freelance theatre technician. He is a husband and a father.
"I can thank many people for my development as a person and artist, but especially: Rien Bout, Jan de Haas, Egbert Davids, Willem Nijland, Bart Clement, my wife Claudia Woolgar and my son Callum - and of course Mr van Rijn and Oskar Kokoschka.”