“One with the Birds”

An exhibition by Aldwin van de Ven

Opening with the artist:
Saturday, May 17th 17:00 – 20:00
Exhibition dates:
May 17th - June 28th, 2025

Ten Haaf Projects is pleased to announce “One with the Birds”, a solo exhibition by Aldwin van de Ven. This exhibition brings together paintings from the past five years alongside newly created sculptures.

The title “One with the Birds” refers to the song of the same name by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, in which a longing for connection arises from a place of solitude. This theme also forms the heart of the exhibition.

In Aldwin van de Ven's layered, associative paintings, the figurative and the abstract meet. Trees, people, and birds are recurring motifs that occupy space within emptiness. The world that emerges is both familiar and elusive. The paintings evoke a quiet, timeless atmosphere in which fragments of memories, dreams, and observations seem to float. These subtle images create a poetic and narrative mood that invites personal interpretation.

The sculptural works that were created for this exhibition form an extension of the artist's
painterly language. They expand his visual vocabulary into the physical space and invite the viewer to engage with the work not only visually, but bodily.

Aldwin van de Ven is influenced by the work of post-impressionist Henri Rousseau. Van de Ven also creates an imaginary natural world, where reality and dreams are intertwined.
Rather than striving for a naturalistic depiction, he constructs an autonomous world in which intuition, imagination, and a strong sense of form take a center stage.

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Aldwin van de Ven (b. 1980 NL) studied at the St. Joost Academy of Art and Design in
Breda, the Frank Mohr Institute in Groningen, and Hunter College in New York. From 2010
to 2011, he was an artist-in-residence at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in
Amsterdam. His work is held in various private and institutional collections in both the
Netherlands and abroad.