Steven Aalders, Shadow
Slewe Gallery is pleased to host the exhibition Shadow by Steven Aalders from November 27, 2021 to January 8, 2022, now extended until January 23, including the Amsterdam Art Gallery Weekend on 22 & 23 January with opening hours from 12 noon to 5 pm.
Aalders presents some new series of square sized paintings in various dimensions, all divided in two equal vertical planes of colour. The two colours are brought in balance and form together a ‘oneness in twoness’. Recently Aalders’ colour palette has intensified and shows more darker tones overall. The choice of colours is inspired by different sources, from nature as well as from various colour theories, for instance that of Goethe’s, who saw colour as shadow, which arises from a mixture of light and darkness. In addition, some series are inspired by the palette of old masters, such as the renaissance painter Matthias Grünewald and American modernist Milton Avery. At the same time Aalders’ exhibition Seasons will be on view at the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo. On this occasion a comprehensive catalogue has been published by the museum in collaboration with Hatje Cantz. It gives an overview of the last ten years and is designed by Irma Boom. You can listen to an interview with the artist by Robert van Altena [in Dutch] here.
Steven Aalders is known for his carefully hand-painted geometric abstract oil paintings. He evokes the history of modern abstraction, referring to the origins of constructivism and minimal art. His work is an attempt to create light and space through paint. Modernist serial principles, such as repetition and uniformity, are linked to age-old concepts of depicting time and place. Different colour concepts are being investigated. In his paintings he expresses the rhythm of life.
Steven Aalders, born in 1959 in Middelburg (NL), lives and works in Amsterdam. He studied at Croydon College of Art in London and at Ateliers 63 in Haarlem (NL). In 2002 he had his first museum solo exhibition Vertical Thoughts at the S.M.A.K. in Ghent, Belgium and in 2010 followed by Cardinal Points at the Gemeentemuseum (Kunstmuseum) in The Hague, on which occasion a catalogue was published with an overview of fifteen years work. Last year he made an installation at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, referring to Van Gogh’s painting Harvest. His current solo exhibition Seasons in the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo will be on view until June 5, 2022. In 2017 the book The Fifth Line. Thoughts of a Painter was published by Koenig Books, London, in which Aalders’ thoughts on art and particularly abstract art and its relation to the world are discussed in a series of interviews conducted by Robert van Altena. Aalders’ work is internationally collected by both private and public collections, such as the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Kröller-Müller Museum, Museum Kurhaus Kleve, Museum Voorlinden, AkzoNobel Art Foundation, ABNAMRO Art Collection, BPD Art Collection, Thoma Art Collection and Over Holland Collection.