Leon van den Eijkel
Aluminium sub frame with aluminium cladding and two pot
lacquer
Van den Eijkel's philosophy: 'the main thing in life is simply
to go freely, lightly, pleasantly and frequently pass by a
CROSS (ROAD)
Leon van den Eijkel was born in 1940 in The Hague, Netherlands.
He studied at the Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague, 1958-1963.
Arriving in New Zealand in 1986 he lived in Wellington until 1998
and now resides on Waiheke Island.
Van den Eijkel has exhibited widely in Europe, the United States
of America and in New Zealand and is represented in many major
public and private collections including: Stedelijk Museum,
Amsterdam, Netherlands; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam,
Netherlands; Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Ghent, Belgium; Museum
of Modern Art, New York and Te papa Tongarewa, Museum of New
Zealand, Wellington.
For the past 20 years van den Eijkel has produced light boxes,
sculptures, paintings and multimedia installations that utilise
reflective surfaces and colours that are often based on a
continuing dialogue between his homeland and the Pacific.
Recent works include a major outdoor sculpture for the Keystone
Trust Sculpture Project at The Farm, Auckland (1998); A Walk in
the Clouds (2004) at the Embassy of The Hague, The
Netherlands; Light of Colour (2005) for Brian R. Richards
Ltd, Auckland; Wellington Urban Forest (2007) for the
Wellington Sculpture Trust and The Smiling Windmills
(2008) for Avalon Park, Lower Hutt.
Thanks to Caution Art Works (project management), Commodore
Sheetmetals Ltd (fabrication) and Bute Collision repairs
(paint work).