Between heaven and earth (Tussen hemel en aarde)
About this activity.
Composting between heaven and earth
Allie van Altena shows his most recent work
Allie van Altena wants to make images that live like nature, as people and animals. He calls the method he uses 'composting'. In theory, this is the destruction of existing work, so that new work can be created. In practice, this means that his studio is full of material that seems to live a life of its own through natural processes or through the intervention of the artist. With his work, Van Altena wants to express that life and art are both transient and hopeful at the same time.
Drawing is Van Altena's specialization. He went to the Academy of Fine Arts Sint-Joost in Breda and the Academy of Visual Arts in Rotterdam. He has been living and working in Groningen since the early eighties. As a teacher he was affiliated with the Minerva Academy until his retirement. In November 2019 he received a Work Grant for Proven Talent from the Mondriaan Fund. Every year he shows the state of affairs of this four-year working period in Galerie Noord.
He himself describes the development towards his latest exhibition as follows: “I go from earth to heaven. Floor was the foundation in 2020. In 2021, in SOLUM and ANTIBODIES, I introduced humans as well as the earth. INTER-ESSE, in January 2022, was about growth and now heaven is also getting a place. It is important that I always pick up something from an exhibition and continue with it in the next working period. For example, for Between Heaven and Earth I used sheets of paper from the INTER-ESSE installation”.
In Tussen hemel en aarde, Van Altena shows, among other things, a series of drawings that he had composted using water and charcoal powder, a bronze statue based on a lava rock he found on Lanzarote and a flat moon that appears to be made of bronze, but that isn't. Van Altena never does the same thing twice. Like his material, he adapts again and again. “I also always try to do something new with the space of Galerie Noord. This time I want to make a mural”. The cypress trees that he recently saw in cemeteries reaching the sky like pencils in Girona are an important source of inspiration for this.
With his service to art and his relativistic attitude, Van Altena knows how to make the public think in a contagious way. Tussen hemel en aarde will be opened on October 29 at 5 p.m. by art viewer Jaap van der Veen. On Thursday 17 November at 20:00 there is a workshop Looking with Jaap.
Galerie Noord.
Galerie Noord is een expositieruimte in hartje Groningen. Vierwekelijks bieden we kunstenaars uit het Noorden de mogelijkheid recent werk te tonen, solo of in kleine groepen. Galerie Noord richt zich op autonoom, experimenteel en onderzoekend werk in vrijwel alle disciplines. We willen bezoekers verrassen door tentoonstellingen te bieden met een wisselend karakter.
Galerie Noord wordt volledig gerund door vrijwilligers. In 1997 werd de galerie opgericht als kunstenaarsinitiatief.
Location.
Galerie Noord
Nieuwstad 6
9711 JP Groningen
tel 050-3113322
www.galerienoord.nl