Maarten Baas STIRred 2023 with his whimsy, childlike charm and inventive flair

Dutch designer and artist, Maarten Baas, believes in imbuing his work with theatrics. He injects all his creations with a whimsical hue, a childlike charm that is difficult to ignore. Under the guise of wondrous creations, his artworks and design pieces often communicate a deeper message constructed in tandem with contemporary events across the globe. The artist adds this humour to all his works, from chairs and clocks to public art and usable furniture.

1. Places

The Utrecht Public Library commissioned the Dutch artist to create a large-scale installation highlighting the entrance of the Central Library at Neude Square, Utrecht, The Netherlands. The installation, Intellectual Heritage, measures 9.5 x 8 meters and is installed directly above the main door, around a stained-glass oval decoration. An unexpected and eccentric intersection of bold architectural 3D signage and LED text displays of different scales, mimics advertising messages and is illuminated all day long, at different intensities. The installation displays words used in literature, culture and philosophy, establishing a visual language that references pop culture.

2. Events to remember

Baas teamed up with fashion brand G-Star RAW to present the exhibition More or Less at Milan Design Week 2023. For the event, Baas created three functional cabinets from recycled G-Star jeans. As well as being made from denim, they resemble a pair of jeans and can also be used to store your denim essentials. The installation at the design fair in Milan, Italy, was created from recycled jeans collected in G-Star's stores. It shows the endless possibilities of denim and explores the everyday dilemma: the desire for more - and the planet's need for less.

At Baas’s solo exhibition It’s About Time, at Museum Voorlinden in Wassenaar, the Netherlands, the artist showcased his most recent clocks from the Real Time series, namely the Grandfather Clock, Paddington Clock and Children Clock. Each clock marked time with a recording of a 12-hour performance. He also showcased new work from his Clay series—five seemingly teetering chairs with meter-high backs that he created especially for this exhibition at Voorlinden. "We grow older, wiser and more mature, but with that, we also lose our childlike energy. I am looking precisely for that naivete, for that wonder and curiosity," Baas shares.

Baas showcased his work at another exhibition, namely Play TIme at Carpenters Workshop Gallery’s Los Angeles space. The show opened to the public during this year’s edition of the Frieze Art Fair in Los Angeles. Uniting works from a host of his previous ventures, the show demonstrated the constant conflict between growing up and remaining a child at heart that Baas embraces in his practice. Bringing together pieces from earlier collections in the contemporary Dutch designer’s illustrious career, including Real Time, Clay, and Close Parity, the principal focal point of the former collection, as seen in the exhibition, is a series of timepieces of varying scale—from full-sized grandfather clocks to smaller children’s clocks.