Surrealist Theater - The Magical World of Hans Kanters. From October 30, 2020, to March 21, 2021, Museum JAN presents the exhibition "Surrealist Theater - The Magical World of Hans Kanters." Surrealist artist Hans Kanters enchants audiences with his dreamscapes full of fantastical creatures, painted with great precision and craftsmanship. The exhibition offers a comprehensive overview of Hans Kanters' unique oeuvre.
An egg sticking out its tongue. Dreamscapes. Visions. Illusions. They all show scenes that are hard to believe, yet believable. That's because you see them with your own eyes. A table flying through the air, an egg sticking out its tongue, a caterpillar with women's buttocks. It is a truly magical world that Hans Kanters (1947) presents to his audience. Disturbing, mysterious, humorous, and erotic. Nothing in Kanters' art is what it seems. The metamorphosis is endless. People become animals, animals turn into objects, and objects become people again. Anything is possible and anything is allowed. Entirely in line with the painter's motto: "the artist celebrates freedom."
Self-taught painter Hans Kanters has been presenting his surrealist theater for fifty years. He lived and worked in Ibiza for a long time, but is now back in the Netherlands. Born in Amsterdam, the self-taught artist gained fame in the early 1970s with his painted fantasies. Unrestricted by fashion, traditions, or dogmas, he chose his own path from the outset. This does not mean that he is the only surrealist in Dutch art history. Kanters feels a personal affinity with the Dutch painters Melle and Carel Willink. Internationally, he has a connection with artists such as Salvador Dalí and Max Ernst.
Works from private collections. The exhibition at Museum JAN in Amstelveen is the first major retrospective devoted to the work of Hans Kanters. Due to his unconventional style, he has mainly been noticed by private collectors until now. Museum founder Jan van der Togt was an avid collector of Kanters' work and began commissioning him in the early 1990s. With more than fifty paintings, as well as a selection of drawings and sculptures, from the 1970s to the present, 'The Surrealist Theater – The Magical World of Hans Kanters' offers a complete overview of an oeuvre that is both fascinating and enigmatic. Hans Kanters' unbridled imagination encourages us, the viewers, to fantasize in the same way.