Stepping Out by Leon Aarts (for sale)

This acrylic painting, "Stepping Out" (2010) by Leon Aarts (b. 1961, Christchurch, New Zealand), is a threshold moment frozen in mid-stride—a towering, elongated figure poised on a jagged green-yellow precipice, one foot lifted toward a cavernous doorway that yawns open like a stage curtain or city gate, while behind, a fractured landscape of blue-gray shards and red-brown ruins recedes into memory. Painted in the shadow of the September 2010 Darfield earthquake (just weeks before the devastating February 2011 aftershock), this vertical mid-scale work (approx. 36×24 inches) marks Aarts’ transition from pre-quake buoyancy (Nodding Off, Jetson) to post-trauma reckoning (Christchurch Post Quake 2010, Vortex). It is the Whatdoesitmean series’ hinge: What courage does it take to step out when the ground has already betrayed you?

1. Style & Influences

Expressionist Threshold: Käthe Kollwitz’s monumental figures meet Léger’s architectural bodies—the figure linear, stark, almost Giacometti-thin, yet heroic in posture.
Orphic Exit: The step = Orpheus’ final turn—lyre now the doorway, Eurydice behind in the ruins, the song in the act of crossing.
Post-Quake Prelude: After Early Morning Rugby’s innocence, this is Aarts on the edge—the earthquake not yet fully rendered, but felt in the fracture.

Final Verdict: ★★★★★ (5/5)

A quiet, seismic masterpiece—"Stepping Out" is Leon Aarts’ threshold anthem, his Kollwitz in color, his final stride before the fall. Less chaotic than Vortex, less playful than Nodding Off, but deeper in its silence—art as act of faith. For survivors, locals, or anyone on the edge, it’s essential; this isn’t a figure stepping out—it’s the world learning to walk again.

"The ground cracked. The doorway opened. And in the space between ruin and road, one foot rose—and the future began."