Toon Berghahn
Twilight Spaces
06.03 - 17.04
Link to the exhibited paintings
Link to Virtual Tour in the exhibition
The Dutch painter Toon Berghahn (1970) is a champion in generating compositions and light - a skill which he shows within this exhibition Twilight Spaces.
The exhibition opens Sunday 6th of March, and Toon will come in person to shed light on his artistry.
Not only is Toon Berghahn well-known for his craft. He has as well a wide knowhow about the Dutch artist Rembrandt (1606-1669), whose collection is today at Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam - a place where Toon shares his knowledge with the audience. In those situations Toon will be called in as a supervisor.
Not yet has Toon Berghahn been acknowledged to the same hights as Rembrandt - although Toon carries a personality with the potential to rise.
The works of strong compositions and lights in his paintings, leaves one spellbound and it is a joy to observe the dynamics within particular spaces. a studio, a museum hall, a swimming pool or a sports hall. However, at the same time they look alienating and disturbing. Sometimes he places a house or modernist villa in a landscape environment enframed by a shimmering, disorienting (twilight) sky, while nature invades a room through a window. This ethereal light, often coming from different light sources, enhances feelings of desolation or melancholy, while offering comfort.
Toon Berghahn | DEEP BLUE | 105 x 160 cm |Mixed media on MDF - signed at the backside - 2021
Especially his double paintings are precious. Here, he was inspired by a chickens house which he came by at the countryside close to the German borderline. He took this construction to the next level, treating the chickens house like a gallery, and so he would paint and decorate its walls.
As a viewer, it means that not only will we observe Toon's painting as a regular art piece hanging on the wall; we will as well see more paintings within the painting due to the seen-through technique. This calls in our ability to observe his paintings in a new way, as it holds deep dynamics.
Human presence is only suggested by left traces. Often it is personal memories of a location or space that Berghahn processes in his paintings, places that are anchored in his memories and senses. By stripping them of any direct personal charge, he gives these images a universal meaning. Those are space specific places, and still you will get the impression that there is something familiar about each of them.
Berghahn's work is in numerous corporate and private collections. He was awarded or nominated several times, including for the Royal Prize for Painting and has received several grants for proven talent from the Dutch Mondriaan Fund.
Facts:
Artist: Toon Berghahn (born 1970)
Time: 06.03 - 17.04
Title: Twilight Spaces
Numbers: 20 malerier
Web - link: Toon Berghahn