Abraham ‘Ab’ van Hanegem was born in Vlissingen in 1960. He studied at the Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten Sint-Joost (Academy of Fine Arts Sint-Joost) in Breda (1979-1985) and embarked on a postgraduate course at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten (State Academy of Fine Arts) in Amsterdam (1987-1989).
Van Hanegem’s work is centred around illusionistic perception and challenges the visual stakes of the painterly space. His large canvases are colourful spaces with holes, rampant brushstrokes, patterns, moving, three-dimensional snakes, ellipses and blobs. He creates spatial illusions with an airbrush and fantastical painting. As the artist explains: ‘I’ve always been fascinated by the illusion of space on a flat surface. In my first work, I researched the mathematical perspective as it was developed in the Early Renaissance […] In a subsequent series of works I employed other spatial constructions, including the isometric and grids of diagonal and sometimes wavy screens. These structures formed the basis for architectural representations and an Escher-like play with depth, in which “above” and “below” are shuffled. I also examined the painterly means themselves on their spaciousness’.
This spaciousness has evolved from more explicit and straightforward spatial investigations to compositional planning. The sources of inspiration for this step are as numerous as they are surprising: topology, mathematics – there are no boundaries.
In his Berlin studio, the artist stretches monumental canvases, prepares his acrylics and puts on some free jazz to create these spatial investigations he himself describes as ‘ thinking spaces’, where the spectator is invited to ‘wander infinitely, not only with your eyes, but also mentally’. The proclaimed objective is to make us all ‘weightlessly float and bob around like in a bathtub filled with foam, undergoing a sense of bliss’.
A list of Van Hanegem’s 21st-century solo exhibitions reads as follows: One-single-artwork-show, Galerie Gilla Lörcher, Berlin (2016); Study for Position #4, Galerie Gilla Lörcher, Berlin (cat.) (2015); Recent Paintings, PS-projectspace, Amsterdam (2014); ontplofte blik, Centraal Museum, Utrecht (2012); Künstlerverein Malkasten, Düsseldorf (2012); Galerie Ruth Leuchter, Düsseldorf (2011); Ab van Hanegem: Long time no sea, Marie Tak van Poortvliet Museum, Domburg (2011); Dick de Bruijn Contemporary Art, Middelburg (with Jan van der Ploeg) (2011); VOUS ETES ICI, Amsterdam (2001, 2003, 2004, 2007); In Situ Gallery, Aalst (with Martijn Schuppers) (2001); Gastatelier, Willem III, Vlissingen (2001); A B, Museum De Beijerd, Breda (cat.) (2000).
Van Hanegem’s work has been acknowledged with prizes, including the Stiftung Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart incentive prize (1989) and the Charlotte Köhler Prize (1990).
Van Hanegem works in Amsterdam and Berlin.
