JOHN NOESTHEDEN: sterrenstof

sterrenstof, the Dutch word for “stardust,” is an installation of new work by senior Canadian artist John Noestheden. It continues his interest in the cosmos and origins, as it reflects upon our sense of being in the “order of things”, and an historical and ongoing fascination with “the stars.” Noestheden has used the term “thinking space”—literally, and how these thoughts can be activated in a gallery as a meditative space. Although his practice has engaged a range of two and three-dimensional media, the current works are pigment and other media on canvas. His concerns, however, are not within the conventional language of paint—the pictorial or the non-objective—but within the perceptual, how material behaves and how appearances shift (not unlike looking at the night sky). In one work, Noestheden utilizes scientific data from astronomer Robert Burnham Jr.’s Celestial Handbook, Volume 1, first published in 1966.

John Noestheden was born in Amsterdam, and came to Canada as a child. He received his BFA and MFA, respectively, from the University of Windsor and Tulane University, New Orleans. He has shown nationally and internationally in solo and group exhibitions. Recently, a collaborative work with Cape Dorset artist Shuvinai Ashoona was shown at the 2012 Biennale of Sydney and Sakahàn: International Indigenous Art at the National Gallery of Canada in 2013. His works are represented in public collections across Canada. A retired professor from the University of Regina, Noestheden now lives in Hamilton, Ontario.

Works in the exhibition:

John Noestheden (Canadian, b. Amsterdam 1945)

sterrenstof, 2012-13
diptych, stardust, ash, clay, oil and acrylic on canvas, framed in aluminum,
each panel 274.3 cm x 213.3 cm

Burnham Volume One, 2013
acrylic, titanium, carborundum, “stardust” on canvas
243.8 x 213.4 cm