Theo Schouten (1949, Haarlem)
Visual artist (self taught).
After a successful career of many years in the world of interior design, including creating interiors mainly for hotels and restaurants, he completely changed direction in 1995.
His lifelong passion for designing and expressing creativity through geometric objects became his main purpose in life.
Since 2013, he has lived and worked in the small but characteristic and atmospheric town of Hindeloopen, near the water and the lock. Although he works from a small house, it is a place where living, working, his studio and gallery come together perfectly.
For many years he has created geometric spatial objects (three dimensional experiences), often made in primary colours, but also in black and white and with gold leaf.
His work continuously focuses on the effects of light and shadow, which are an essential part of his creations. He is always searching for the boundaries between the two dimensional surface and the three dimensional level.
Thematically, his work is based on the way people function. The contrasts between mechanism and autonomy, between thought processes and human instincts and behaviour, are reflected in his creations of colour and form across all dimensions. These contrasts appear as fields of tension between round, rounded and angular shapes, and between straight and linear forms.
