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{{Short description|American painter}}
{{Infobox artist
{{Infobox artist
| name = Hernan Bas
| name = Hernan Bas
| birth_name = Hernan Bas
| birth_name = Hernan Bas
| birth_date = 1978
| birth_date = 1978
| birth_place = [[Miami, Florida]]
| birth_place = [[Miami, Florida]], U.S.
| field = [[Painting]], [[photography]]
| field = [[Painting]], [[photography]]
| training = [[New World School of the Arts]], [[Cooper Union]]
| training = [[New World School of the Arts]], [[Cooper Union]]
| works = "It's Supernatual," "Slimfast"
| works = "It's Super Natural," "Slimfast"
}}
}}


'''Hernan Bas''' (born 1978 in [[Miami, Florida]], [[United States]]) is an artist based in [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]]. He graduated in 1996 from the [[New World School of the Arts]] in Miami.<ref name=NWSAweb>{{cite web|title=Success Stories: Visual Arts |publisher=[[New World School of the Arts]] |url=http://nwsa.mdc.edu/col_deg_visual_arts/success_stories/success_stories.html |accessdate=2008-01-28 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080224184126/http://nwsa.mdc.edu/col_deg_visual_arts/success_stories/success_stories.html |archivedate=2008-02-24 |df= }}</ref>
'''Hernan Bas''' (born 1978) is an artist based in [[Miami]], Florida. He graduated in 1996 from the [[New World School of the Arts]] in Miami.<ref name=NWSAweb>{{cite web|title=Success Stories: Visual Arts |publisher=[[New World School of the Arts]] |url=http://nwsa.mdc.edu/col_deg_visual_arts/success_stories/success_stories.html |accessdate=2008-01-28 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080224184126/http://nwsa.mdc.edu/col_deg_visual_arts/success_stories/success_stories.html |archivedate=2008-02-24 }}</ref>


Bas is known for his depictions of waifs and dandies, who are somewhat based on his own experiences, as well as his work with the material [[SlimFast]] and the [[paranormal]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|url=http://magazine.art21.org/2011/12/27/centerfield-against-nature-an-interview-with-hernan-bas/#.WpRhcxPwZ-U|title=Centerfield {{!}} Against Nature: An Interview with Hernan Bas {{!}} Art21 Magazine|work=Art21 Magazine|access-date=2018-02-26|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> Overtime, Bas says, these characters have grown in his paintings and taken on different roles.<ref name=":3" /> Bas is gay and queerness often influences his work in the form of waifs and other young men, typically recurrent characters in his work.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news|url=https://hyperallergic.com/290356/hernan-bas-on-painting-aristocratic-queer-life-in-1920s-london/|title=Hernan Bas on Painting Aristocratic, Queer Life in 1920s London|date=2016-04-13|work=Hyperallergic|access-date=2018-03-13|language=en-US}}</ref>
Bas is known for his depictions of waifs and dandies, who are somewhat based on his own experiences, and his work with the material [[SlimFast]] and the [[paranormal]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|url=http://magazine.art21.org/2011/12/27/centerfield-against-nature-an-interview-with-hernan-bas/#.WpRhcxPwZ-U|title=Centerfield {{!}} Against Nature: An Interview with Hernan Bas {{!}} Art21 Magazine|work=Art21 Magazine|access-date=2018-02-26|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Citation|last=Art Basel|title=Salon {{!}} Artist Talk {{!}} Hernan Bas|date=2013-01-10|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_z-U2I-BXg|accessdate=2018-04-11}}</ref> Over time, Bas says, these characters have grown in his paintings and taken on different roles.<ref name=":3" /> Bas is gay and [[queer]]ness often influences his work in the form of waifs and other young men, typically recurrent characters in his work.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news|url=https://hyperallergic.com/290356/hernan-bas-on-painting-aristocratic-queer-life-in-1920s-london/|title=Hernan Bas on Painting Aristocratic, Queer Life in 1920s London|date=2016-04-13|work=Hyperallergic|access-date=2018-03-13|language=en-US}}</ref>


Bas owns a building in Detroit that was renovated by [[Nicola Kuperus]] and [[Adam Lee Miller]], the couple behind Detroit electronic music act [[Adult.]] The building is on a block called Service Street noted for the number of diverse and accomplished artists that work there, including techno music pioneer [[Derrick May (musician)|Derrick May]].<ref>Anglebrandt, Gary. [http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20130210/NEWS/302109956/renaissance-artists-creative-community-revives-overlooked-block-near "Renaissance artists: Creative community revives overlooked block near Eastern Market"], ''[[Crain's Detroit Business]]'', Detroit, 11 February 2013. Retrieved on 13 February 2013.</ref>
Bas owns a building in Detroit that was renovated by [[Nicola Kuperus]] and [[Adam Lee Miller]], the couple behind Detroit electronic music act [[Adult.]] The building is on a block called Service Street noted for the number of diverse and accomplished artists that work there, including techno music pioneer [[Derrick May (musician)|Derrick May]].<ref>Anglebrandt, Gary. [http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20130210/NEWS/302109956/renaissance-artists-creative-community-revives-overlooked-block-near "Renaissance artists: Creative community revives overlooked block near Eastern Market"], ''[[Crain's Detroit Business]]'', Detroit, 11 February 2013. Retrieved on 13 February 2013.</ref>


== Early Life ==
==Early life and education==
Bas was born in 1978 in Miami, Floria and moved upstate to a small town as a young boy.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/11/hernan-bas-painter-artist-miami-detroit_n_1418469.html|title=Hernan Bas, Painter, Talks Growing Up In Haunted Florida, Working In Detroit (PHOTOS)|last=Abbey-Lambertz|first=Kate|date=2012-04-11|work=Huffington Post|access-date=2018-03-13|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web|url=http://www.lehmannmaupin.com/artists/hernan-bas|title=Artist Bio|last=|first=|date=|website=Lehman Maupin|access-date=}}</ref> Bas has described growing up in the town as "kind of like living in the '[[The X-Files|X-Files]]," and has credited it for his interest in the paranormal.<ref name=":5" /> He says he had a "spooky childhood" full of "[[U.F.O.]] and [[Bigfoot]] sightings mixed with ghosts in the woods and a bunch of other bizarre occurrences."<ref name=":5" />
Bas was born in 1978, in [[Miami]], Florida and moved upstate to a small town as a young boy.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/11/hernan-bas-painter-artist-miami-detroit_n_1418469.html|title=Hernan Bas, Painter, Talks Growing Up In Haunted Florida, Working In Detroit (PHOTOS)|last=Abbey-Lambertz|first=Kate|date=2012-04-11|work=Huffington Post|access-date=2018-03-13|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web|url=http://www.lehmannmaupin.com/artists/hernan-bas|title=Artist Bio|last=|first=|date=|website=Lehman Maupin|access-date=}}</ref> Bas has described growing up in the town as "kind of like living in the '[[The X-Files|X-Files]]," and has credited it with his interest in the paranormal.<ref name=":5" /> He says he had a "spooky childhood" full of "[[U.F.O.]] and [[Bigfoot]] sightings mixed with ghosts in the woods and a bunch of other bizarre occurrences."<ref name=":5" />


Bas began painting very young, at around three or four years old.<ref name=":5" /> Bas attended the art magnet program in the Miami public school system. Bas said that through the program he effectively began attending art school in seventh grade and by the time he graduated from New World, he was doing four hours of art a day, every day.<ref name=":1" /> Because of his early art education, Bas did not feel that he needed any more formal training and left the [[Cooper Union]] after one semester.<ref name=":1" />
Bas began painting at around three or four years old.<ref name=":5" /> He attended the art magnet program in the Miami public school system. Bas said that through the program he effectively began attending art school in seventh grade and by the time he graduated from New World in 1996, he was doing four hours of art every day.<ref name=":1" /> Because of his early art education, Bas did not feel that he needed any more formal training and left the [[Cooper Union]] after one semester.<ref name=":1" />


== Career ==
== Career ==
While Bas identifies himself as a painter, he has also experimented with other mediums such as film and also photography.<ref name=":2">{{Citation|last=wetheatproject|title=Art21 Guest Blog: "Going & Coming" Part 4 (Hernan Bas)|date=2012-07-09|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv-rN6pC_no|accessdate=2018-04-16}}</ref> He has built himself a dark room in the basement of his studio to continue experimenting with photography.<ref name=":2" />
While Bas identifies himself as a painter, he has also experimented with other mediums such as film and also photography.<ref name=":2">{{Citation|last=wetheatproject|title=Art21 Guest Blog: "Going & Coming" Part 4 (Hernan Bas)|date=2012-07-09|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv-rN6pC_no |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211219/Qv-rN6pC_no |archive-date=2021-12-19 |url-status=live|accessdate=2018-04-16}}{{cbignore}}</ref> He has built himself a dark room in the basement of his studio to continue experimenting with photography.<ref name=":2" />


Bas' first solo exhibit took place in 2002 at [[Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami|MOCA in North Miami]] called ''It's Super Natural''.<ref name=":1">{{Citation|last=Art Basel|title=Salon {{!}} Artist Talk {{!}} Hernan Bas|date=2013-01-10|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_z-U2I-BXg|accessdate=2018-04-11}}</ref> In 2004, Bas' artwork was displayed at the 2004 Whitney Biennale at the [[Whitney Museum of American Art|Whitney Museum]] in New York City.<ref name=":6" /> One year later, in 2005, Bas participated in two more group exhibits, ''The Triumph of Painting: Part III'', at the [[Saatchi Gallery]] in [[London|London, England]] and in ''New Worlds - New Romanticism in Contemporary Art'', at [[Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt|Schirn Kuntshalle]], in [[Frankfurt|Frankfurt, Germany]].<ref name=":6" /> Also in 2005, Bas earned a fellowship to [[Giverny|Giverny, France]], where he got to paint on [[Claude Monet]]'s estate.<ref name=":1" /> In 2007, Bas had a major presentation at the Rubell Family Collection in Miami, which travelled to the [[Brooklyn Museum|Brooklyn Art Museum]] in 2008.<ref name=":6" /> In 2009, Bas participated in the group exhibit "the Collectors," curated by [[Elmgreen & Dragset]] for the Nordic and Danish Pavillions at the 53rd Venice Biennale.<ref name=":6" /> In 2010, Bas moved his studio from Miami to Detroit, stating he enjoyed the "weirdness" of the city.<ref name=":5" /> In 2012, Bas had shows in New York, at the Lehman Maupin Gallery and in [[Paris]] and [[South Korea]].<ref name=":5" />
Bas' first solo exhibition in a commercial art gallery took place in 2001 at the Fredric Snitzer Gallery, and was called ''Hernan’s Merit & the Nouveau Sissies'. ''In 2004, Bas' artwork was displayed at the 2004 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum in New York City''.<ref name=":6" /> ''One year later, in 2005, Bas participated in two more group exhibits, The Triumph of Painting: Part III, at the [[Saatchi Gallery]] in [[London|London, England]] and in New Worlds - New Romanticism in Contemporary Art, at [[Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt|Schirn Kuntshalle]], in [[Frankfurt|Frankfurt, Germany]].<ref name=":6" /> Also in 2005, Bas earned a fellowship to [[Giverny|Giverny, France]], where he got to paint on [[Claude Monet]]'s estate.<ref name=":1" /> In 2007, Bas had a major presentation at the Rubell Family Collection in Miami, which travelled to the [[Brooklyn Museum|Brooklyn Art Museum]] in 2008.<ref name=":6" /> In 2009, Bas participated in the group exhibit "the Collectors," curated by [[Elmgreen & Dragset]] for the Nordic and Danish Pavilions at the 53rd Venice Biennale.<ref name=":6" /> In 2010, Bas moved his studio from Miami to Detroit, stating he enjoyed the "weirdness" of the city.<ref name=":5" /> In 2012, Bas had shows in New York, at the Lehman Maupin Gallery, and in [[Paris]], at Galerie Perrotin, and [[South Korea]].<ref name=":5" />


Bas' artwork is part of the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the [[Museum of Modern Art]], and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.<ref name=":6" /> The Brooklyn Museum of Art displays ''the Aesthete's Toy'' (2004) and ''Night Fishing'' (2007) in the permanent collection.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/search?keyword=Hernan+Bas|title=Brooklyn Museum|website=www.brooklynmuseum.org|access-date=2018-03-19}}</ref> Bas has a total of eight works at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, T''he Start of the Rain'' (2004), ''All By Myself'' (2004), ''Idyll in Elysium'' (2003), ''The Love of the Exiotic'' (2003), ''The One That Got Away'' (2003), ''Untitled'' (2003), ''The Whores of Venice (Version 1)'' (2003), and ''The Whores of Venice (Version 2).''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.moma.org/collection/works?locale=en&utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=Hernan+Bas&classifications=any&date_begin=Pre-1850&date_end=2018&with_images=1&page=1&direction=|title=The Collection {{!}} MoMA|website=The Museum of Modern Art|language=en|access-date=2018-03-19}}</ref> In [[Washington, D.C.|Washington, D.C]]. he has artwork at the [[Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden]], the [[Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles|Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles]], the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, and the [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art|Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco]].<ref name=":6" /> MOCA Los Angeles has four works by Bas in the permanent collection: ''Hell Hound, Parade Boy, My New Boyfriend,'' and ''Sleepwalker.''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.moca.org/search?q=Hernan+Bas|title=Search Results • MOCA|website=The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles|access-date=2018-03-31}}</ref> The Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami has three pieces by Bas in the permanent collection. The collection includes ''Fleeting Moments'' (2005), ''Slim Fast Silhouette'' (1999-2000), and ''Ghosts of You'' (2001).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mocanomi.org/?s=Hernan+Bas|title=Search Results for “Hernan Bas” – Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami|website=mocanomi.org|language=en-US|access-date=2018-03-31}}</ref>
Bas' artwork is part of the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the [[Museum of Modern Art]], and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.<ref name=":6" /> The Brooklyn Museum of Art displays ''the Aesthete's Toy'' (2004) and ''Night Fishing'' (2007) in the permanent collection.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/search?keyword=Hernan+Bas|title=Brooklyn Museum|website=www.brooklynmuseum.org|access-date=2018-03-19}}</ref> Bas has a total of eight works at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, T''he Start of the Rain'' (2004), ''All By Myself'' (2004), ''Idyll in Elysium'' (2003), ''The Love of the Exiotic'' (2003), ''The One That Got Away'' (2003), ''Untitled'' (2003), ''The Whores of Venice (Version 1)'' (2003), and ''The Whores of Venice (Version 2).''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.moma.org/collection/works?locale=en&utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=Hernan+Bas&classifications=any&date_begin=Pre-1850&date_end=2018&with_images=1&page=1&direction=|title=The Collection {{!}} MoMA|website=The Museum of Modern Art|language=en|access-date=2018-03-19}}</ref> In [[Washington, D.C.]] he has artwork at the [[Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden]], the [[Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles|Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles]], the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, and the [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art|Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco]].<ref name=":6" /> MOCA Los Angeles has four works by Bas in the permanent collection: ''Hell Hound, Parade Boy, My New Boyfriend,'' and ''Sleepwalker.''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.moca.org/search?q=Hernan+Bas|title=Search Results • MOCA|website=The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles|access-date=2018-03-31}}</ref> The Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami has three pieces by Bas in the permanent collection. The collection includes ''Fleeting Moments'' (2005), ''Slim Fast Silhouette'' (1999-2000), and ''Ghosts of You'' (2001).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mocanomi.org/?s=Hernan+Bas|title=Search Results for "Hernan Bas" – Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami|website=mocanomi.org|language=en-US|access-date=2018-03-31}}</ref>


== Influences ==
== Influences ==
Bas has described some of his influences as the lives of saints and the paranormal.<ref name=":5" /> He has also cited [[Oscar Wilde]] and [[Charles Baudelaire]] as inspirations, as well as [[Joris-Karl Huysmans|Joris-Karl Huysman]].<ref name=":5" /> <ref name=":6" /> He has indicated that most of his inspiration comes from the past and he does not pay attention to much contemporary work.<ref name=":5" /> His inspirations have also come from Miami, the city where he grew up, especially its "superficial beauty" with which he he grew up around and made him feel unattractive as a "skinny boy."<ref name=":1" /> Bas also took inspiration from [[Joseph Beuys]]' use of painting with fat, as it was one of the first exhibits he saw.<ref name=":1" /> He also found inspiration in the [[Félix González-Torres|Felix Gonzalez-Torres]] candy piles in his early work with slim fast, allowing his viewers to take a cup of slim fast with them.<ref name=":1" />
Bas has described some of his influences as the lives of saints and the paranormal.<ref name=":5" /> He has also cited [[Oscar Wilde]] and [[Charles Baudelaire]] as inspirations, as well as [[Joris-Karl Huysmans|Joris-Karl Huysman]].<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /> He has indicated that most of his inspiration comes from the past and he does not pay attention to much contemporary work.<ref name=":5" /> His inspirations have also come from Miami, the city where he grew up, especially its "superficial beauty" with which he grew up around and made him feel unattractive as a "skinny boy."<ref name=":1" /> Bas also took inspiration from [[Joseph Beuys]]' use of painting with fat, as it was one of the first exhibits he saw.<ref name=":1" /> He also found inspiration in the [[Félix González-Torres|Felix Gonzalez-Torres]] candy piles in his early work with slim fast, allowing his viewers to take a cup of slim fast with them.<ref name=":1" />


Before Bas starts painting, he typically does research, which according to the artist involves reading and watching a lot of movies, which leads to Bas becoming "obsessively interested in any new stories or tales..."<ref name=":7">{{Cite news|url=https://www.flashartonline.com/article/hernan-bas/|title=Hernan Bas|date=2016-11-14|work=Flash Art|access-date=2018-04-01|language=en-US}}</ref> According to Bas, these stories can be both fictional or true, and he also looks into artists he may have not noticed before for inspiration.<ref name=":7" /> He then likes to "remix" his influences to create something of his own, a process inspired by his musician friends in Detroit who are asked to remix albums.<ref name=":1" /> Bas says that sometimes his friends create better remixes than the original song, his ultimate goal is to do the same with his paintings, "sampling" the artists who inspired him until they are unrecognizable as the original artist, becoming his own work instead.<ref name=":1" />
Before Bas starts painting, he typically does research, which according to the artist involves reading and watching a lot of movies, which leads to Bas becoming "obsessively interested in any new stories or tales..."<ref name=":7">{{Cite news|url=https://www.flashartonline.com/article/hernan-bas/|title=Hernan Bas|date=2016-11-14|work=Flash Art|access-date=2018-04-01|language=en-US}}</ref> According to Bas, these stories can be both fictional or true, and he also looks into artists he may have not noticed before for inspiration.<ref name=":7" /> He then likes to "remix" his influences to create something of his own, a process inspired by his musician friends in Detroit who are asked to remix albums.<ref name=":1" /> Bas says that sometimes his friends create better remixes than the original song, his ultimate goal is to do the same with his paintings, "sampling" the artists who inspired him until they are unrecognizable as the original artist, becoming his own work instead.<ref name=":1" />


Bas' homosexuality has also been an influence specifically in works like his series' ''Bloodwerk, Bright Young Things,'' and ''Supernatural.''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bombmagazine.org/articles/hernan-bas/|title=Hernan Bas by Roberto Juarez - BOMB Magazine|website=bombmagazine.org|access-date=2018-04-01}}</ref> In his earliest paintings, Bas' characters lived in what the artist described as "fag-limbo," which Bas described as the point between "realizing you're different and telling everyone else that you're different."<ref>{{Citation|last=artnet2007|title=Artnet TV by Nicole Davis - Hernan Bas|date=2010-04-06|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xlE-pfZf64|accessdate=2018-04-16}}</ref> Bas' artwork mostly consists of "waifs" who play a variety of roles from the [[The Hardy Boys|Hardy boys]] to saints.<ref name=":4" /> In ''Bright Young Things'', Bas indicated that he was trying to rewrite history to bring queerness to light in a time when it was not widely exposed, in the case of his series, the 1920's.<ref name=":4" /> Men's fashion magazines have also served as inspiration for Bas' "waif" figures.<ref name=":4" />
Bas' homosexuality has also been an influence specifically in works like his series ''Bloodwerk, Bright Young Things,'' and ''Supernatural.''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bombmagazine.org/articles/hernan-bas/|title=Hernan Bas by Roberto Juarez - BOMB Magazine|website=bombmagazine.org|access-date=2018-04-01}}</ref> In his earliest paintings, Bas' characters lived in what the artist described as "fag-limbo," which Bas described as the point between "realizing you're different and telling everyone else that you're different."<ref>{{Citation|last=artnet2007|title=Artnet TV by Nicole Davis - Hernan Bas|date=2010-04-06|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xlE-pfZf64 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211219/_xlE-pfZf64 |archive-date=2021-12-19 |url-status=live|accessdate=2018-04-16}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Bas' artwork mostly consists of "waifs" who play a variety of roles from the [[The Hardy Boys|Hardy boys]] to saints.<ref name=":4" /> In ''Bright Young Things'', Bas indicated that he was trying to rewrite history to bring queerness to light in a time when it was not widely exposed, in the case of his series, the 1920s.<ref name=":4" /> Men's fashion magazines have also served as inspiration for Bas' "waif" figures.<ref name=":4" />


Bas' interest in the paranormal and his sexuality have intersected within his artwork, as the artist says he developed a connection between the paranormal and the other-worldly with homosexuality.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|last=Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami|title=Hernan Bas: What makes gay art gay?|date=2018-02-16|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHDKvWpPW6s|accessdate=2018-04-11}}</ref> Bas says this connection can be seen in his painting, ''the primordial soup theory'' (2010).<ref name=":0" /> He says he connects homosexuality with the paranormal because he connects the "insane stuff" people perceive about homosexuality to be similar to how people view the paranormal.<ref name=":3" />
Bas' interest in the paranormal and his sexuality have intersected within his artwork, as the artist says he developed a connection between the paranormal and the other-worldly with homosexuality.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|last=Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami|title=Hernan Bas: What makes gay art gay?|date=2018-02-16|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHDKvWpPW6s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211219/fHDKvWpPW6s |archive-date=2021-12-19 |url-status=live|accessdate=2018-04-11}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Bas says this connection can be seen in his painting, ''the primordial soup theory'' (2010).<ref name=":0" /> He says he connects homosexuality with the paranormal because he connects the "insane stuff" people perceive about homosexuality to be similar to how people view the paranormal.<ref name=":3" />


==Further reading==
==Further reading==
*Chad Alligood, ''Hernan Bas: A Brief Intermission'' (Malaga: Centro de arte contemporáneo), 2019
*Christian Rattemeyer, Jonathan Griffin, Nancy Spector, ''Hernan Bas'' (New York: Rizzoli), 2014
*Christian Rattemeyer, Jonathan Griffin, Nancy Spector, ''Hernan Bas'' (New York: Rizzoli), 2014
*Michele Robecchi, René Zechlin, ''Hernan Bas: The Other Side'' (Berlin: Distanz), 2012
*Michele Robecchi, René Zechlin, ''Hernan Bas: The Other Side'' (Berlin: Distanz), 2012
*Mark Coetzee, Robert Hobbs, Dominic Molon, ''Hernan Bas: Works from the Rubell Family Collection'' (Miami: Rubell Family Collection), 2008
*Mark Coetzee, [[Robert Hobbs]], Dominic Molon, ''Hernan Bas: Works from the Rubell Family Collection'' (Miami: Rubell Family Collection), 2008
*[[Nancy Spector]], [[Massimiliano Gioni]], Silvia Cubina, ''Hernan Bas: Soap Operatic'' (Miami: The Moore Space), 2004.


== References ==
== References ==
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==External links==
==External links==
*[http://www.lehmannmaupin.com/#/artists/hernan-bas/ Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York]
*[http://www.lehmannmaupin.com/#/artists/hernan-bas/ Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York]
*[http://www.victoria-miro.com/artists/_3/ Victoria Miro Gallery, London]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110717232659/http://www.victoria-miro.com/artists/_3/ Victoria Miro Gallery, London]
*[http://snitzer.com/artists/bas/index.html Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami]
*[https://www.snitzer.com/artists#/hernan-bas-1 Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami]
*[http://sandronirey.com/artists/hernan_bas/work.shtml Sandroni Rey Gallery, Los Angeles]
*[http://sandronirey.com/artists/hernan_bas/work.shtml Sandroni Rey Gallery, Los Angeles]
*[http://www.peterkilchmann.com/artists/profile/++/name/hernan-bas/id/28/ Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich]<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://magazine.art21.org/2011/12/27/centerfield-against-nature-an-interview-with-hernan-bas/#.WpRhcxPwZ-U|title=Centerfield {{!}} Against Nature: An Interview with Hernan Bas {{!}} Art21 Magazine|work=Art21 Magazine|access-date=2018-02-26|language=en-US}}</ref>
*[http://www.peterkilchmann.com/artists/profile/++/name/hernan-bas/id/28/ Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich]
*[https://www.perrotin.com/artists/Hernan_Bas/56#images]


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bas, Hernan}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bas, Hernan}}
[[Category:1978 births]]
[[Category:1978 births]]
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[[Category:Artists from Florida]]
[[Category:Artists from Florida]]
[[Category:Artists from Miami]]
[[Category:Artists from Miami]]
[[Category:Gay artists]]
[[Category:American gay artists]]
[[Category:American LGBTQ painters]]
[[Category:Gay painters]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century American male artists]]

Latest revision as of 20:48, 24 September 2024

Hernan Bas
Born
Hernan Bas

1978
EducationNew World School of the Arts, Cooper Union
Known forPainting, photography
Notable work"It's Super Natural," "Slimfast"

Hernan Bas (born 1978) is an artist based in Miami, Florida. He graduated in 1996 from the New World School of the Arts in Miami.[1]

Bas is known for his depictions of waifs and dandies, who are somewhat based on his own experiences, and his work with the material SlimFast and the paranormal.[2][3] Over time, Bas says, these characters have grown in his paintings and taken on different roles.[2] Bas is gay and queerness often influences his work in the form of waifs and other young men, typically recurrent characters in his work.[4]

Bas owns a building in Detroit that was renovated by Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller, the couple behind Detroit electronic music act Adult. The building is on a block called Service Street noted for the number of diverse and accomplished artists that work there, including techno music pioneer Derrick May.[5]

Early life and education

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Bas was born in 1978, in Miami, Florida and moved upstate to a small town as a young boy.[6][7] Bas has described growing up in the town as "kind of like living in the 'X-Files," and has credited it with his interest in the paranormal.[6] He says he had a "spooky childhood" full of "U.F.O. and Bigfoot sightings mixed with ghosts in the woods and a bunch of other bizarre occurrences."[6]

Bas began painting at around three or four years old.[6] He attended the art magnet program in the Miami public school system. Bas said that through the program he effectively began attending art school in seventh grade and by the time he graduated from New World in 1996, he was doing four hours of art every day.[3] Because of his early art education, Bas did not feel that he needed any more formal training and left the Cooper Union after one semester.[3]

Career

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While Bas identifies himself as a painter, he has also experimented with other mediums such as film and also photography.[8] He has built himself a dark room in the basement of his studio to continue experimenting with photography.[8]

Bas' first solo exhibition in a commercial art gallery took place in 2001 at the Fredric Snitzer Gallery, and was called Hernan’s Merit & the Nouveau Sissies'. In 2004, Bas' artwork was displayed at the 2004 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum in New York City.[7] One year later, in 2005, Bas participated in two more group exhibits, The Triumph of Painting: Part III, at the Saatchi Gallery in London, England and in New Worlds - New Romanticism in Contemporary Art, at Schirn Kuntshalle, in Frankfurt, Germany.[7] Also in 2005, Bas earned a fellowship to Giverny, France, where he got to paint on Claude Monet's estate.[3] In 2007, Bas had a major presentation at the Rubell Family Collection in Miami, which travelled to the Brooklyn Art Museum in 2008.[7] In 2009, Bas participated in the group exhibit "the Collectors," curated by Elmgreen & Dragset for the Nordic and Danish Pavilions at the 53rd Venice Biennale.[7] In 2010, Bas moved his studio from Miami to Detroit, stating he enjoyed the "weirdness" of the city.[6] In 2012, Bas had shows in New York, at the Lehman Maupin Gallery, and in Paris, at Galerie Perrotin, and South Korea.[6]

Bas' artwork is part of the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.[7] The Brooklyn Museum of Art displays the Aesthete's Toy (2004) and Night Fishing (2007) in the permanent collection.[9] Bas has a total of eight works at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, The Start of the Rain (2004), All By Myself (2004), Idyll in Elysium (2003), The Love of the Exiotic (2003), The One That Got Away (2003), Untitled (2003), The Whores of Venice (Version 1) (2003), and The Whores of Venice (Version 2).[10] In Washington, D.C. he has artwork at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, and the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco.[7] MOCA Los Angeles has four works by Bas in the permanent collection: Hell Hound, Parade Boy, My New Boyfriend, and Sleepwalker.[11] The Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami has three pieces by Bas in the permanent collection. The collection includes Fleeting Moments (2005), Slim Fast Silhouette (1999-2000), and Ghosts of You (2001).[12]

Influences

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Bas has described some of his influences as the lives of saints and the paranormal.[6] He has also cited Oscar Wilde and Charles Baudelaire as inspirations, as well as Joris-Karl Huysman.[6][7] He has indicated that most of his inspiration comes from the past and he does not pay attention to much contemporary work.[6] His inspirations have also come from Miami, the city where he grew up, especially its "superficial beauty" with which he grew up around and made him feel unattractive as a "skinny boy."[3] Bas also took inspiration from Joseph Beuys' use of painting with fat, as it was one of the first exhibits he saw.[3] He also found inspiration in the Felix Gonzalez-Torres candy piles in his early work with slim fast, allowing his viewers to take a cup of slim fast with them.[3]

Before Bas starts painting, he typically does research, which according to the artist involves reading and watching a lot of movies, which leads to Bas becoming "obsessively interested in any new stories or tales..."[13] According to Bas, these stories can be both fictional or true, and he also looks into artists he may have not noticed before for inspiration.[13] He then likes to "remix" his influences to create something of his own, a process inspired by his musician friends in Detroit who are asked to remix albums.[3] Bas says that sometimes his friends create better remixes than the original song, his ultimate goal is to do the same with his paintings, "sampling" the artists who inspired him until they are unrecognizable as the original artist, becoming his own work instead.[3]

Bas' homosexuality has also been an influence specifically in works like his series Bloodwerk, Bright Young Things, and Supernatural.[14] In his earliest paintings, Bas' characters lived in what the artist described as "fag-limbo," which Bas described as the point between "realizing you're different and telling everyone else that you're different."[15] Bas' artwork mostly consists of "waifs" who play a variety of roles from the Hardy boys to saints.[4] In Bright Young Things, Bas indicated that he was trying to rewrite history to bring queerness to light in a time when it was not widely exposed, in the case of his series, the 1920s.[4] Men's fashion magazines have also served as inspiration for Bas' "waif" figures.[4]

Bas' interest in the paranormal and his sexuality have intersected within his artwork, as the artist says he developed a connection between the paranormal and the other-worldly with homosexuality.[16] Bas says this connection can be seen in his painting, the primordial soup theory (2010).[16] He says he connects homosexuality with the paranormal because he connects the "insane stuff" people perceive about homosexuality to be similar to how people view the paranormal.[2]

Further reading

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  • Chad Alligood, Hernan Bas: A Brief Intermission (Malaga: Centro de arte contemporáneo), 2019
  • Christian Rattemeyer, Jonathan Griffin, Nancy Spector, Hernan Bas (New York: Rizzoli), 2014
  • Michele Robecchi, René Zechlin, Hernan Bas: The Other Side (Berlin: Distanz), 2012
  • Mark Coetzee, Robert Hobbs, Dominic Molon, Hernan Bas: Works from the Rubell Family Collection (Miami: Rubell Family Collection), 2008
  • Nancy Spector, Massimiliano Gioni, Silvia Cubina, Hernan Bas: Soap Operatic (Miami: The Moore Space), 2004.

References

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  1. ^ "Success Stories: Visual Arts". New World School of the Arts. Archived from the original on 2008-02-24. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
  2. ^ a b c "Centerfield | Against Nature: An Interview with Hernan Bas | Art21 Magazine". Art21 Magazine. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Art Basel (2013-01-10), Salon | Artist Talk | Hernan Bas, retrieved 2018-04-11
  4. ^ a b c d "Hernan Bas on Painting Aristocratic, Queer Life in 1920s London". Hyperallergic. 2016-04-13. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  5. ^ Anglebrandt, Gary. "Renaissance artists: Creative community revives overlooked block near Eastern Market", Crain's Detroit Business, Detroit, 11 February 2013. Retrieved on 13 February 2013.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Abbey-Lambertz, Kate (2012-04-11). "Hernan Bas, Painter, Talks Growing Up In Haunted Florida, Working In Detroit (PHOTOS)". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h "Artist Bio". Lehman Maupin.
  8. ^ a b wetheatproject (2012-07-09), Art21 Guest Blog: "Going & Coming" Part 4 (Hernan Bas), archived from the original on 2021-12-19, retrieved 2018-04-16
  9. ^ "Brooklyn Museum". www.brooklynmuseum.org. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  10. ^ "The Collection | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  11. ^ "Search Results • MOCA". The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Retrieved 2018-03-31.
  12. ^ "Search Results for "Hernan Bas" – Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami". mocanomi.org. Retrieved 2018-03-31.
  13. ^ a b "Hernan Bas". Flash Art. 2016-11-14. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
  14. ^ "Hernan Bas by Roberto Juarez - BOMB Magazine". bombmagazine.org. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
  15. ^ artnet2007 (2010-04-06), Artnet TV by Nicole Davis - Hernan Bas, archived from the original on 2021-12-19, retrieved 2018-04-16{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ a b Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami (2018-02-16), Hernan Bas: What makes gay art gay?, archived from the original on 2021-12-19, retrieved 2018-04-11
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