Arie Otten

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’.

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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.

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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.