ANNE VAN LEEUWEN: SURFACE THE EMOTIONS
ANNE VAN LEEUWEN: SURFACE THE EMOTION
Stefania Carrozzini Gallery is pleased to present the Anne Van Leeuwen’s solo exhibition entitled: “Surface the Emotions”. The exhibition was presented in Milan at MyMicroGallery in February 2023 and in this new context, the artist deepened her research by proposing new art work on the theme of emotions.
The artist proposes an immersive and sensorial journey in which the protagonist is painting, a painting which reveals an intense desire for freedom, in which the sign, matter and gesture become the fundamental points on which her poetic universe gravitates and its expressive language.
The will to experiment feeds on emotions, so the traces left on the canvas are engraved thoughts and the color always underlines the vital ganglia of the pictorial body, almost a map where to follow the light after shadow areas.
The territory on which to operate is the infinite world of lyrical and informal abstraction in which Anne Van Leeuwen is at ease because it allows her to express in total freedom, intuitions, feelings and emotions. Painting is for Van Leeuwen, a precious moment of return to the source, in which she takes shape even an intense creative process, which frees her from the weight of everyday life, from her routine. In this dimension Anne puts her pieces back together, brings out otherwise unexpressed states of being.
The free flow of forms reflects the mental and emotional space of the artist; her twelve works on which different moments unfold, between lyrical movements of signs that evoke silences and poetic suspensions of states of being, in contrast with the bright and vibrant tones of chromatic densities that become propulsive centers of energy.
As in a musical score, in the works of Anne Van Leeuwen serious tones are interspersed with lively tones, declining infinite nuances of emotions. Sometimes memories of landscapes come to mind and the artist captures their essence in the simplicity and rhythm of the lines that emerge on the surface mimicking solitary horizons, with sober and sparse backgrounds alternating with more full-bodied masses. A rigor interrupted by the desire for spontaneity runs through all the work of the artist who in his research never loses sight of the meaning of her work, the inclination to merge subjective elements with a broader vision that marks the natural rhythms of a universe sensitive where the heart sinks, or the mind if you want, while the eye always comes back to the surface.
Anne van Leeuwen was born in Hollywood in California. She attended San Jose State College where she learned the foundation for her future career development. She traveled to Europe where she spent six months immersing herself in the cultural aspects of different countries. Back in California, she chooses Mexico to undertake a course of study in Mexico City and then in San Miguel Allende. The Institute de San Miguel teaches her to work with the local clay for pottery. Batik and other mediums extend her artistic experiences to which she adds paper work. She attends courses in Tuscany in particular which provide her with the skills and knowledge to start teaching the manufacture of this material. She then also continues to explore other mediums. Anne Van Leeuwen lives and works in Denver, Colorado.
www.annevanleeuwen.com