After getting a degree at the Rijksacademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam Olaf van der Beek is active as a free artist in painting, graphics and collage. He also worked as a teacher for the Nutsschool voor Beeldende Expressie which focuses on working with long-term prison detainees.
In his early years he is named a realistic painter, but after some time he style becomes loser going into the direction of cubism. In the exhibition which opens on April 8 we display woodcuts of jazz musicians. Remarkable about his portraits of musicians is that they are the most literal in his oeuvre.
Jazz is a recurring theme in van der Beek’s work. His interest piqued in the 50’s when he first listend to cornet player and bandleader King Oliver on the radio of his grandfather. Afterwards he visits the infamous concerts by Lionel Hampton and the famed night concerts in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, where he seen al his heroes play live.
Jazz wasn’t just a music genre to him, but an art form with its own sound.