Steven Aalders, born in 1959 in Middelburg (NL), is an abstract painter. He is known for his minimal geometric oil paintings. His work is about proportion and color. An attempt to embody the essence, to create light and space through paint. Modernist serial principles, such as repetition and uniformity, are linked to age-old concepts of depicting time and place. Different color concepts are being investigated. In his painting he expresses the rhythm of life. The multi-layered oil paintings demand a concentrated eye from the beholder.

Aalders studied at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, at Croydon College of Art in London and at de Ateliers in Haarlem. After winning the Royal Award in Painting in 1986 he stayed in Barcelona for a year. Since then, he has exhibited his work regularly. In 2002 he had his first museum solo exhibition Vertical Thoughts at the Stedelijk Museum voor Aktuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.) in Ghent (BE), on which occasion a catalogue was published with texts by Jan Hoet and Pietje Tegenbosch. In 2010 his exhibition Cardinal Points opened at the Gemeentemuseum (now Kunstmuseum), The Hague. A similar entitled book came out, giving an overview of more than fifteen years of work, with essays by Benno Tempel, Rudi Fuchs, Thomas Lange and Steven Aalders himself.  In 2020 he was invited to make an installation View at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. In 2021 followed his exhibition Seasons, with a selection of ten years work, at the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, on which occasion a book was published in collaboration with Hatje Cantz, Berlin, with a text by Rudi Fuchs and an interview with the artist by Robert van Altena.

Steven Aalders was invited to stay as a resident at the Josef Albers Foundation in Bethany, Connecticut (USA) in 2011 and at the Van Doesburg studio house in Meudon, Paris in 2017. His paintings have been collected internationally by both private and public collections, such as the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, Museum Kurhaus Kleve, Museum Over Holland, Schunck (Heerlen), AkzoNobel Art Foundation, BPD Art Collection and ABNAMRO Bank Art Collection amongst others.

In addition to his painting practice Aalders has also written several texts on art for newspapers, art magazines and catalogues. In 2017 the book The Fifth Line. Thoughts of a Painter was published by Koenig Books, London, in which Aalders’ thoughts on art and particularly abstract art and its relation to the world are discussed in a series of interviews conducted by Robert van Altena.

Aalders’ work is represented by Slewe Gallery in Amsterdam and Walter Storms Galerie in Munich. He lives and works in Amsterdam.

For further information, see Steven Aalders’ curriculum vitae.