A Note on the Artist

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Tactile and linear components converge and merge in Spronken's work in an image that immediately appeals to gestural empathy. The onlooker feels the movement of the sculpture in his hands as an expression of vitality. Seen from a distance, his work is striking for its monumentality and the way space is liberated and “breathes” through and around it; at a small distance, it invites the onlooker to feel its strength and even to grasp it, as it perfectly fits in the hand. This intimacy, together with the act of freeing the gaze, results in an experience of airiness and lightness, paradoxically sprung from a very heavy material.

 

A second experience for the onlooker is the interplay of silence and inner sound: the sculptures seem to have an acoustic presence. Is this due to the material alone, metal being apt to ring and resound? Or do we have to meditate on the global effect of the sculptures, their subtle relation to space and their very own language?

 

Within the panorama of contemporary art, important shifts have occurred in the last decennia, especially in sculpture and architecture. After the breaking through of negative space, negative volume has the same value as positive mass, the question is whether the minimal form has still to be reduced further or whether it is time to reflect on new possibilities. Today, we are concerned with dwelling on earth. How can an artist bring this awareness into an expressive form? Will he not choose to put this question in a variety of activities, going from design to sculpture, with architecture in mind? This urge may arise from a new sense of responsibility towards the environment and nature. 

 

The Bauhaus design was part of rational architecture in steel and glass. The question then arises how to maintain human scale, human emotion and human spiritual needs in a highly technical environment, and how to develop a language that can immediately be “grasped”? By combining his intimate knowledge and experience of the tradition of craft and his equally personal training in spiritual traditions, Xander Spronken did find a synthesis and guidance, a path to reconciliation with the spirit of our time.

 

A quote from "The Measure of Volume and Void The sculpture of Xander Spronken," by Annie Reniers, Professor Free University of Brussels.

 

Selected Exhibitions

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2015 Harmakhis, Brussels, Belgium
2014 Art Nocturne, Knokke, Belgium
2014 GAF, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2013 Expositie Urmond, The Netherlands
2012 Art Gallery Kuub, Utrecht, The Netherlands
2012 Eastmen Gallery, Hasselt, Belgium
2011 Luxx international Art Gallery, The Netherlands
2011 TEFAF Maastricht, Deborah Elvira, The Netherlands
2010 Leon Salet, Maastricht, The Netherlands
2009 TEFAF Maastricht, Deborah Elvira, The Netherlands
2008 Exhibition, Barcelona, Spain
2008 AAArt Foundation, Kitzbuhel, Austria
2008 Leon Salet, Maastricht, The Netherlands
2007 Landau Contemporary at Gallery Dominion, Montreal
2006 Landau Contemporary at Gallery Dominion, Montreal
2006 Paris Biennale des Antiquaires, Landau Fine Art, Paris
2006 Leon Salet, Maastricht, The Netherlands
2005 Landau Contemporary at Gallery Dominion, Montreal

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1988-2004

Singermuseum, Laren, The Netherlands
P.A.N. Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Frankfurt Fine Art Fair, Germany
Museo del Hierro, Castellon, Spain
Art Contemporain, Strassbourg, France
Holland Art Fair, Den Haag, The Netherlands
The Grosvenor House Art and Antiques Fair, London, U.K.
Gallery Leeman, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Keerder Kunstkamer, Cadier en Kerr, The Netherlands
Singermuseum, Laren, The Netherlands
Boterhal Hoorn, The Netherlands
Gallery Ligne, Brussels, Belgium
Gallery Cisly, Brussels, Belgium
Kunstverlag, Hamburg, Germany
P.A.N. Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Rob van Rijn, Maastricht, The Netherlands

Selected Public & Private Commissions

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L. Schep, The Netherlands
G. Kleisterlee, The Netherlands
J. Raeven, Belgium
Emir of Lebanon
Municipality of Beek, The Netherlands
Carcu Holding, The Netherlands
Mr. Clive Worms, Paris, France
Carcu Holding, The Netherlands
Two commissions from the Park Theater in Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Caesargroep, The Netherlands
Three commissions Allen & Overy, The Netherlands
Bauwbeheer Bv., The Netherlands
Municipality Meerssen, The Netherlands
Carlos Building, Lisbon, Portugal
Literair Theater Branoul, The Hague, The Netherlands
World Trade Center, Amsterdam
B. Huskamp Hospital, Germany
Kunstverlag-München, Germany
County Council Limburg, Maastricht
Castle de Hocht-Lanaken, Belgium
Dutch Centre for Public Libraries and Literature, The Hague, The Netherlands
B. Smidt, Wuppertal, Germany
F.I.S. Steel, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands