Joost van Oss has always made work that asks more questions than it answers. (Conceptual) art doesn’t just sit on the wall; it sits inside your conscience, especially now, as the art world continues to rely on “old school” practices that are anything but sustainable.

The reality is hard to ignore: galleries and collectors still demand physical art objects, crated in wood, cushioned by layers of plastic, bubble wrap, and polystyrene peanuts. Art fairs generate literal tons of waste - ephemeral luxury built on shipping containers and last-minute installations, only to be trashed or flown to the next city. Etsy, Shopify, Amazon and secondary market resellers are all harbingers of the Shein-ification of art as commodity. The truth? For an industry so obsessed with everything new, the art world remains stubbornly old-fashioned when it comes to recognizing its environmental impact.

Joost’s work - particularly his open and limited editions - pushes back against the machine. Instead of monumental canvases, he chose a simple, direct form: a postcard sent via USPS mail, sharing an idea and collectible that travels further than any crate ever could and doesn’t require a delivery truck. There are no heavy shipping fees, no carbon-intensive global logistics, no styrofoam or bubble wrap filling landfills with more plastics. Just the work in your hands as it was meant to be seen.

But his approach isn’t just aesthetic, it’s ethical. It’s the artist’s way of saying that creativity doesn’t need to be complicit in waste by exploring something that is different.

It’s a message that resonates in a world where the conversation around sustainability and our responsibility to address it is evolving rapidly. Joost’s home nation of The Netherlands and the EU at large still leads the charge on climate initiatives, with regulators and companies alike pushing for genuine, quantifiable progress. And as of spring 2025 proxy season, shareholders are still voting for it. Even though DEI may face increasing backlash in the U.S., the commitment to a global environmental and social impact remains strong, especially among major institutions, many of whom are massive backers of art. The values are changing, and so must the way we create, collect and talk about art.

Joost’s works embody this shift. They’re minimalist not just in appearance but in carbon footprint. They represent a refusal to play by the wasteful rules of the game and a belief that the power of an idea doesn’t necessarily require a frame or VIP preview. In the context of his homage to his fellow Dutch artist Bas Jan Ader, Untitled, 2022 “Too sad to tell,” the card becomes both artwork and message, a small act of resistance against a world that values excess over substance.

This isn’t theory for Joost; it’s practice. His time spent as a Chinati artist in residence in Marfa was formative: a place where art and the natural world intersect, and where the environmental landscape is as much a part of the work as any gallery wall. Judd’s own radical minimalism was never about “less for less’ sake.” It was about clarity, honesty and refusing to be ornamental or - even worse - decorative. Joost is cognizant of his legacy, and not just by stripping away excess, but by calling out the art world’s reluctance to change. The “crap” of materialism juxtaposed against the “crap” of art world role-playing.

Ultimately, the question at the center of Joost van Oss’s work is not “What is art?” but “What do we as a society value and at what cost?” Being inside an era when the world can no longer afford to operate a “business as usual” mindset, his work offers a new roadmap - sustainable and accessible through practical creative-thinking.

- Olympia Lambert, 2025