Arie Otten, (born 1954), the Netherlands, is a contemporary artist residing and working in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. His works are sublime, lyrical and abstract. Arie’s works involve subversive actions that highlight free flow & undefined boundaries creating a site of lyrically abstract works. Through his works on different media and art installations, Arie constructs facial description with his free style of bold strokes. Throughout his 15-year career, Arie has innovated multiple mediums expanding the horizon of his artworks, working with wooden panel to constructively using scrap material from construction sites. His artworks are an outcome of unintentional ending, seemingly deriving from the uncertain situations of life leading to more certain consequences. His works are greatly inspired by the great artists such as Anselm Kiefer, Mark Rothko, Karel Appel, Jan Cremer, Theo Wolvekamp and others.
Arie’s works have found their place in numerous public and private collections across the globe including countries such as the Netherlands, France, Italy, the USA and more. His works are permanently exhibited at Veldkamp Thuis, Tandprothetische Praktijk Van de Heg, Van Woudenberg BV and Art Café Sam Sam. Otten has conducted numerous solo shows and group exhibitions in the Netherlands.
Arie Otten is a Dutch contemporary artist born in 1954, who currently resides and works in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. His work delves into the nature of the sublime and humanity’s attempt to define it. Focusing on a subject matter that is essentially and existentially out of reach, he pivots on the lyrical and abstract aspects of it. Arie’s depth and intensity of emotion poured onto canvas as a primary material and further into three dimensions through installations and sculpture, doesn’t betray his self-taught practice. Having engaged as a first responder in the ambulance service for over two decades before his 15-year career as a full-time artist, is what he confesses through his obsessive creation of art. Working rapidly, at times creating 2-3 works per day, he incorporates subversive actions in a free flow of undefined boundaries, using bold strokes that highlight the finite window of ‘being aware in the present’.
Arie’s creative process is unrestricted though multiple mediums, working with paint on canvas and wooden panels through productively using scrap materials from construction sites. Unintentional endings, or the certainty of death is captured out of seemingly uncertain situations of living, leading to more certain consequences. Whether through figurative facial descriptions or naïf and abstract renderings of ‘the unbearable lightness of being’, Arie Otten manages to connect the viewer with an unsullied expression of the human experience of living.
He is greatly inspired by artists such as Anselm Kiefer, Mark Rothko, Karel Appel, Jan Cremer, Theo Wolvekamp and others. Arie’s works have found their place in numerous public and private collections across the globe including in the Netherlands, France, Italy, the USA and more. His works are permanently exhibited at Veldkamp Thuis, Tandprothetische Praktijk Van de Heg, Van Woudenberg BV and Art Café Sam Sam.
Veldkamp Thuis, Stationstraat 110, Apeldoorn
2020
Zo Mooij Gallery, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
2019
Zo Mooij Gallery, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Art Studio 28, Apeldoorn, the Netherlands
2017
Loolaan Gallery, Apeldoorn, the Netherland
2016
Gallery Frans Houben, Ootmarsum
2023
Art On World, Arte Borgo Gallery, Bologna, Italy
2022
Arte Borgo Gallery, Rome, Italy
Arte Borgo Gallery, Salerno, Italy
Arte Borgo Gallery, Rome, Italy
Gallery PS (Kirsten Keagli Art Consulting), Zurich, Switzerland (Swiss)
2021
Gallery Mia Joosten , Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Luxembourg Art Fair, Luxembourg
2020
CODA Museum, Apeldoorn, the Netherlands
2019
CODA Museum, Apeldoorn, the Netherlands
2018
CODA Museum, Apeldoorn, the Netherlands
Loolaan Gallery, Apeldoorn, the Netherlands
Veldkamp Thuis, Apeldoorn , the Netherlands
2016
Galerie PS 20 , Apeldoorn, the Netherlands
Galerie PS 20, Apeldoorn, the Netherlands
Galerie Frans Houben, Ootmarsum, the Netherlands
2015-2022
Tandprothetische Praktijk Van de Heg/ Van Woudenberg BV, Zwolsebinnenweg 5 Apeldoorn
2015
Sandmann Opticiens, Apeldoorn, the Netherlands
2014
Gallery Pictura, Gorningen, the Netherlands
African Woman, in a private collection, Vaassen, the Netherlands
Compositions in Red Nr.1, 2, 3, 4, in a private collection, Apeldoorn, the Netherlands
Colorful Face, in a private collection, Apeldoorn, the Netherlands
Cutting Red Nr. 2, in a private collection, Loosdrecht, the Netherlands
Geometric Composition in Yellow and Pink Nr.4/4, in a private collection, New York, USA
Man with Dog, in a private collection, Zurich, CH
No Title, in a private collection, Vaassen, the Netherlands
Pablo, in a private collection, Paris, France
Two people with animal, in a private collection, Hoogeveen, the Netherlands
Woman with Yellow Bag, in a private collection, New York, USA