On April 25th, Aldo Bakker will open his first Carpenters Workshop Gallery exhibit. Slow Motion shows how Aldo materialises the eternal quest for the perfect object through objects that guise themselves as tightrope walkers, balancing between moving, standing still, and almost crashing down. By positioning his works as individual characters, Aldo forces his audience to shift its perception. We are no longer looking at an inanimate object on which we project our knowledge of style, shape or material value. Instead, these creatures invite us to engage in a conversation about their behaviour, their uncertainties, their beliefs, their native tongue. We do not approach them as buyers or even as art historians, we become their fellow travellers, questioning ourselves as much as they question us.
Born in the Netherlands in 1971 to Dutch designers Gija Bakker and Emmy Van Leersum, Bakker grew up in an environment infused with a strong aesthetic sensibility. Deciding against traditional education and instead following his own path, he was first trained as a silversmith working on commission. Bakker set up his own studio in 1994, later moving into furniture and product design. Bakker is interested in organic forms and movements that defies time, zeitgeist, functionality, and purposes. Those who see Aldo’s design for the first time are often drawn to the form or the materiality before they wonder what their purpose is.
Carpenters Workshop Gallery produces and exhibits functional sculptures by international rising and already established artists and designers going outside their traditional territories of expression. The gallery is actively involved in the research and production of the limited edition works exhibited. The choices are guided by the research of an emotional, artistic and historical relevance; a relevance that appears as an evidence.