Bas Fontein is making photo and artist books since 1998; this year he celebrates the 25th anniversary of BASBOEK Publishers. Fontein is co-founder of the collective Dutch Independent Art Book Publishers. DIABP is a collective of small independent Dutch publishers specialized in art, photography and artist books. In this collective are only artists / photographers / designers who publish books independently. Fontein studied Fine Art in Utrecht and Writing at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. As an artist, he works with photography and text. A collection (of text and/or photo's) is always the starting point of a new project. Next to his own art, he works on a range of different cultural and art projects as a creative director, copywriter, editor, curator, museum guide and also as a teacher Fine Art at the University of Arts Utrecht. His publication, WHAT TO DO (2012), won two international prizes for best artist book. Yearly, BASBOEKs are presented at international art book fairs in locations like London, Berlin, Paris, L.A. and Tokyo and purchased by major museums, such as MoMA in New York.
