Bram Braam’s artistic practice is deeply rooted in the visual and material language of the city. Inspired by urban landscapes and their constant state of transformation, he works with materials such as concrete, steel, bricks, glass, wood, and paint—sometimes collected from the streets, but more often meticulously recreated in the studio. Through a minimalist approach, Braam translates the textures and surfaces of the built environment into compositions that feel both familiar and abstract, bridging painting and landscape.
His works exist in a liminal zone, neither fully abstract nor purely representational. They are constructed from fragments of daily urban life, focusing on materiality and tactility as carriers of emotion and memory. Disparate elements are carefully juxtaposed, creating tension and resonance through subtle shifts in texture, rhythm, and form.
The process behind Braam’s multi-layered works is extended and exploratory. Surfaces evolve over time through cutting, reshaping, layering, and erosion. Materials are allowed to react, transform, and reveal traces of both time and the artist’s physical engagement. This results in works that embody a dynamic interplay between control and chance, stability and disintegration.
Influenced by concrete art, modernist architecture, and minimalism, Braam occupies a distinctive position within the post-vandalism movement. His practice can be seen as a conceptual evolution of graffiti—stripped of its original context and elevated into a refined visual language that brings the aesthetics of urban decay into the realm of contemporary art.
Central to Braam’s conceptual approach is the belief in interconnectedness: every action sets off a chain of reactions. This philosophy informs both his material choices and working methods, where ideas and materials continuously reshape one another. The same principle extends into his sculptural work, in which architectural and industrial forms are often confronted with organic, nature-inspired elements. These opposing forces can coexist in balance, but they also carry the potential for conflict and rupture.
Ultimately, Bram Braam’s work is a meditation on transformation, interdependence, and the poetic tension between human construction and natural resilience. It invites the viewer to reflect on the fragile equilibrium that defines our built environment and the quiet beauty found in materials caught between order and entropy.