Ad Dekkers (1938-1974) was famous for his reliefs and large, abstract-geometric works. The artist’s research fluctuates between opposites: light and dark, black and white, high and low, circle and square, visible and hidden. These two sides to his work always complement each other. Each artwork represents a provisional balance. It is fascinating how the placement of a dot, a line, lead to the creation of the square and the circle. How we can almost feel the change, the transformation of space in two and three dimensions. The essays by Katja Rodenburg make this transformation, in the game between line and shadow, not only visible to the reader, but also ‘perceptible’.
The motivation and the development of the artist’s ideas are central. Important elements are art historian Hans Jaffé’s introduction about Mondrian and his first introduction to the work of Ben Nicholson. How did these experiences contribute to his idea of what an artist is and should be? We follow Ad Dekkers on his search for the essence. A search for a clarity and balance that is not easily found in the world.
Line and shadow highlights the artist’s power of creation, based on his own – perhaps unexpected to the reader – versatile works. How does an artist survive in the Netherlands in the sixties and seventies if he has to build a bridge while walking over it?
