Books

Books is something like a ‘best of’ collection of miscellaneous drawings and thoughts by Maarten Bel. Assembled between 2011 and 2015 in small, self-made pocket booklets. It gives the reader an insight in his mind. Our job mainly focussed on the editorial design. Books was released at This Art Fair in Rotterdam.

Artist Statement:
“I swim a lot, visit my nephew once in awhile and I love to watch zombie movies. The things that I face in my daily life are the fundamentals of my practice: looking forward to wear my new outfit on my grandfather’s funeral or selecting people in the metro I wouldn’t trust during a zombie outbreak. By observing and collecting I create an archive of potential ideas that represent something bigger; something that can be interpreted on different levels of knowledge.

Starting from the archive, ideas can take many different forms before I bring them back to society. Drawings, books, performances, workshops, text, the format morphs as it goes through different instalments. My task is the one of the bouncer. At every door of an (imaginary) box with specific rules I decide which idea gets in and which doesn’t. Boxes appear in many forms such as Café Bel, a mobile library or a mail delivery workshop.

Often the work has a ‘casual’ and humorous approach. I believe the quality of humour is recognition alongside alienation. By using a social interaction I try to get the spectator out of their safe cocoon and broaden their perspective on the world.”