Slewe Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of the exhibition But the Energy Continues by Dutch artist Jan van Munster (1939-2024). Van Munster is known for his impressive oeuvre of minimal geometric sculptures visualizing the phenomena of energy. In the exhibition his last light works in relation to some early light works from the seventies will be shown. It will be his second solo show at Slewe Gallery. The exhibition opens Saturday December 7 and will last until January 18, 2025.
Jan van Munster was one of the most remarkable and influential artists in the Netherlands today. He worked with various sources of energy, such as cold and heat, light and electricity or magnetism. His work is about contrasts, positive-negative, light-dark or warm-cold. In addition to a strong physical element, they also show spiritual powers as a metaphor for life. In the sixties his career started showing along with other famous artists as Ad Dekkers, Peter Struycken and Marinus Boezem. In these years Van Munster worked with traditional materials, such as marble, stone, iron and steel, but since the seventies he started to use polyester, granite, mercury and neon tubes as materials to load with energy. In the same period, he made films of his performances, in which he used his own body to show energy. The last years he translated his brain-activities into neon sculptures.
Jan van Munster created a unique art domain around a water tower at the peninsula of Walcheren in Zeeland. It was a place for living, producing art and showing the works in an ideal context. His works can be found in many cities in the Netherlands and Germany, in important private and public collections, such as the Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Museum Boijmans, Rotterdam, Voorlinden Museum, Wassenaar, amongst others. He received various art prizes, such as recently the German Light Art Award (Deutsche Lichtkunstpreis), for which he had an exhibition at Kunstmuseum Celle in Spring 2020.