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for Christian den Besten
Christian den Besten
Once committed to a subject, Den Besten works with rigour to research, interpret and construct his works. These concepts are often realised with his signature labour intensive sculptures crafted from matchbox sticks. While developing his series of works based on the Titanic, Den Besten watched the film over 14 times to work out the construction of the ship. The Titanic was exhibited at the National Gallery of Australia as part of the exhibition Home Sweet Home. The curator Peter Fay states: “What I loved about Christian’s Titanic was the attack of it, it’s sense of fun and risk taking. What comes shiningly through is the huge degree of labour that’s gone into it and yet it retains an uncooked nature.
Den Besten’s studio has been based at Art Unlimited for over 25 years and has his own studio space. Many years ago when he was given the space, a staff member suggested he ‘do the space up’ and so he did making in it a most intriguing installation, which is ever evolving. Depending on the day, Den Besten will choose to either work in his studio, the main studio or in the wood-work /sculpture space. This could well be influenced by social preferences at the time thus influencing the mediums for particular ideas he happens to be working on. Den Besten cites Art Unlimited as being instrumental to sustaining his practice and art career stating that ‘the studio gets my work out there’."
- Supported Studio Network / Accessible Arts NSW
Person TypeIndividual
