But the Energy Continues | Jan van Munster

On Saturday 18 January, Slewe Gallery celebrates the new year from 15:00 to 18:00 amidst the current exhibition But the Energy Continues by the recently deceased Dutch artist Jan van Munster (1939–2024). This exhibition will be extended for another two weeks through 1 February. Van Munster is renowned for his impressive body of minimalist geometric sculptures that visualize the phenomena of energy. In the exhibition, his final light works are presented in dialogue with several early light works from the 1970s. It marks his second solo exhibition at Slewe Gallery.

About Jan van Munster
Jan van Munster was one of the most remarkable and influential artists of his generation in the Netherlands. He worked with various sources of energy, such as cold and heat, light and electricity, or magnetism. His work revolves around contrasts: positive-negative, light-dark, or warm-cold. Alongside a strong physical presence, they also channel spiritual forces as a metaphor for life. In the 1960s, his career began to emerge alongside other celebrated artists such as Ad Dekkers, Peter Struycken, and Marinus Boezem. In those years, Van Munster worked with traditional materials such as marble, stone, iron, and steel, but from the 1970s onward, he turned to polyester, granite, mercury, and neon tubes as media to be charged with energy. During the same period, he produced films of his performances, in which he used his own body to manifest energy. In his final years, he translated his brain activity into neon sculptures.

Van Munster created a unique artistic enclave around a water tower on the Zeeland peninsula of Walcheren. It served as a place to live, produce art, and display works within an ideal setting. His works can be found in numerous cities across the Netherlands and Germany, as well as in major private and public collections, including Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Museum Boijmans, Rotterdam, Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, among others. He received several art awards, including most recently the Deutsche Lichtkunstpreis, for which he held an exhibition at Kunstmuseum Celle in 2020.