Expo

Modern Shapes Gallery is pleased to present Alexander Lichtveld

VIEW CATALOGUE HERE

Dates
EXHIBITION from September 12 till October 06
Monday to Saturday 12:00-18:30 , Sunday 12:00-17:00

OPENING thursday September 12, from 17:00 to 22:00

NEW Location
Modern Shapes Gallery
Kleine Markt 13 - 2000 Antwerpen

How architecture feeds the imagination of art. Despite the fundamental functions that architecture must perform, the best examples continue to inspire artists across all genres with their masterful use of space, harmony and proportion. Modern Shapes Gallery presents architectural ceramic art by the Dutch artist Alexander Lichtveld.

Alexander Lichtveld, Born 1953, studied ceramics at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie under Jan van der Vaart from 1973 until 1978. He has been creating ceramic objects since he graduated until today.
In the early years, the objects were architectural, geometric and not readily associated with the ceramic craft. The objects , constructed from plates of clay , do not at first sight seem like the material of which they are made.
The skin (engobes), the colour palette and the austere finish create the illusion that we are looking at an entirely different material. Nevertheless, Lichtveld is devoted to clay, or as he himself once said: "I am a sculptor who bakes his own stone."

In the middle of this dynamic process of creation, each object demands and provides its own space and calm. The silence and contemplation can be found in almost all objects.

A.L.: "You could look at my objects in the same way you look at a Japanese Zen garden. What I see is a setting created by people and representing nature. All elements, materials, sizes and colours in that kind of garden have been placed there to appear coincidental and natural, as in nature. The opposite is true. The knowledge that this has all been created and thought about while appearing natural, in a way that you never encounter in nature, that phenomenon has always fascinated me. You are looking at something that is really something else. That is when it becomes exciting."

Alexander Lichtveld’s work has been included in various museums, corporate collections and private collections at home and abroad.

Lichtveld's geometric sculptures will dialogue with the organic paintings of belgian artist Erwin Clauws. Nature is the most important subject in the abstract part of Erwin Clauws' oeuvre that is approached plastically from various angles. In no case, however, is it a literal representation. Nature and landscape elements serve as anchor and observation points for determining various parts of a work, as well as the outline and color of the forms themselves.