Thinkspace presents a photo tour pf group exhibition “Real Life is Fragile‘ co-curated by Ken Nwadiogbu, and Super A’s mini solo, ‘Trapped‘. Both exhibitions were up for one week only from July 3 – July 10.
We normally take a small break in the summertime, but as we reflected back on the past 18 months we realized we’ve already had too much downtime and that this break in our program could be better spent highlighting some of the many incredible artists we’ve been exposed to since hosting Ken Nwadiogbu’s debut North American solo exhibition earlier this year.
We’re excited to host a special U.S. launch of Super A (Stefan Thelen) art book ‘Trapped’ alongside a mini-solo exhibition opening this Saturday, July 3rd. In anticipation of the exhibition, we caught up with Super A to find out more about the process of developing ‘Trapped’ and what he’s been up to since his solo with us in December.
How have you been since the last time we connected back in December? How has 2021 been so far?
Thinking back on December I really hoped I could have joined you guys for the Apostasy show and to be part of celebrating the opening of your beautiful new space. Still can’t wait to see it and hang out.
Back then it just wasn’t possible to travel because of the situation. As time is passing it’s starting to look like it’s getting better which is good.
I’m really happy to be traveling again to paint murals and hang out with friends that I haven’t seen for such a long time.
So far all good 🙂
What was the process like for developing ‘Trapped’? How does it feel to have your first art book?
I never planned on making it such a big series. I think it’s simply because I wasn’t used to painting this way. Before i started this series i came up with stories that i wanted to tell through my work but after i told the story through one, two or max three paintings the story was told so i went on to the next story. I must say that way of working is quite exhausting.
When I came up with the idea of “Trapped” I thought of just doing a few paintings but during the process I found out that I really enjoyed it so much so I decided to stick to it for a while.
Then the idea came to release a book. Working on it was a great experience 🙂
I’m slowly exploring new ideas for the future as I don’t want to be trapped in my own series for too long.
What kind of music or musical artists have you been listening to recently in the studio?
It goes in all kinds of directions. depending on what i’m working on. First thing I do when entering my studio is get a coffee press play and go!
At the moment it’s a lot of electro but also punk, metal and hip hop. As long as it’s energetic and puts me in the right mood.
If you could live in any movie universe for a day, what movie would it be? Would you be yourself or a specific character?
Let’s go for Arnie in Total Recall.
Every person experiences that moment when they are in the middle or even at the start of something, where it feels overwhelming or isn’t going as planned – how do you personally push through those difficult moments?
I’m blessed to be surrounded by a good group of friends and family where I can rely on in case things don’t go as they should.
Next to that I can process a lot of things through my work.
Hand-bound hardcover book
24 x 32 cm (9.45″ x 12.6″), 256 pages
Offset printed inner pages on 120 grams Munken Lynx Rough paper
Offset printed cover on 120 grams Wibalin paper, with embossed details
Edition of 1000 copies (90 available signed for the U.S.)
‘Trapped’ Special mini-show from Super A (aka Stefan Thelen) On view July 3 – July 10, 2021 in Gallery II
Special U.S. launch of his new ’Trapped’ book (limited qty. / 90 signed copies for the States) + TMNT Pizza Box (Ed. of 30 / 10 available for the States) + “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” limited edition fine art print (Ed. of 100 standard + 50 deluxe size) + Two new acrylic on linen paintings
‘Trapped’ is an overview of all Super-A’s work made for the “trapped” series he started working on over 3 years ago. This hand-bound book contains of photo’s of all the paintings, the murals, work in progress pictures and text by Katharina Gallade (Galerie Droste) and Andrew Hosner (Thinkspace Project). For the design we worked together with SYB who is a well known book designer, he added some crazy features like fold-outs, laser cut pages and a 95 x 63 cm fold out poster. To bring this crazy design to life we worked together with Lithographer Sebastiaan Hanekroot, printer Jos Morree Fine Books and professional bookbinder Wytze Fopma .
Super A short bio: Stefan Thelen’s anti-superhero identity Super A is a Dutch artist who uses traditional painting technique and a knack for design to create compositions that manipulate familiar iconography into mind-bending and inquisitive pieces. His alter-ego, Super A is the filter with which the life and observations of Stefan Thelen are distilled down and turn into inspiration. All of his work evolves out of personal experiences or thoughts that grow into concepts which tightrope between fiction and nonfiction. Super A is a mystery that leans on the art doing most of the talking for Stefan Thelen, taking the viewer into a wonderland walking down a yellow brick road in which Thelen’s figurative and modern surrealist compositions are providing playful puzzles to decipher.
’Trapped’ book details: • Hand-bound hardcover book • 24 x 32 cm (9.45″ x 12.6″), 256 pages • Offset printed inner pages on 120 grams Munken Lynx Rough paper • Offset printed cover on 120 grams Wibalin paper, with embossed details • Edition of 1000 copies (90 available signed for the U.S.) • ISBN: 978-90-830221-8-5
