The Brothers Pedersen
modern masters
January 22 - February 16, 2007
Reception: Friday, January 26, 5-7pm
   Aage and Jens Pedersen have a combined total of nearly 140 years of making art. Their exhibition at the Atkinson Gallery is unique in their long history as this is their first two-person show together. It is a celebration of two brothers united in art as well as family.
Originally from Demark, Aage, 86, and Jens, 89, have continued the modernist approach to art through their abstract works. It is an ever-evolving process of search and discovery. The roots of their approach go back to early abstractionism. Their paintings look so fresh, and vital, however, one would think the work was made by artists just out of graduate school.
Both work with oil based paints though one uses house paint the other traditional artist paint from tubes. Jens paints on cut out wood shapes and Aage works on rectilinear wood panels. Both emphasize color and form and take a non-narrative stance. Their shared history and materials, however, does not result in similar- looking artworks. Jens’ work is lively, while Aage’s is more restrained. One uses a broad range of scale while the other tends to use a consistent size. One’s work is more three dimensional, acting as a hybrid between painting and sculpture; the other is flat but has an impasto surface.
Theirs is not cool, theory driven painting but a passionate, lyric exploration. Historically they seemed more influenced by a Wassily Kandinsky spiritual based attitude than Marcel Duchamp and his conceptual followers. The Pedersen, known as “artists’ artists”, are widely admired and respected in the Santa Barbara art community. They are constantly creating such as the new paintings for this exhibition. They are true masters of their craft and are inspirations to all who come to know them and their work. |
