Jester by Leon Aarts, acrylics on paper

Leon Aarts, the Christchurch-born expressionist (b. 1961), continues to mine the vein of intuitive chaos in his oeuvre, inheriting the naive vitality of his grandfather Nardus van de Ven while infusing it with a Fauvist ferocity and Cubist splintering. His works, often acrylic bursts of unnameable soul-colors, evoke Mondrian's humble channeling and Whiteley's thrilling defiance of death. Jester (c. 2024, acrylic on canvas, dimensions unspecified but appearing square-format in reproduction) captures this spirit in a riotous masquerade—a carnival of distortion where folly dances on the edge of frenzy, aligning with his recent explorations in whimsical anarchy seen in Mardigras (2024) and Happiness (2024).

The canvas erupts in a fever dream of revelry: at center, a fragmented harlequin-like figure dominates, its body a patchwork of jagged geometries—red triangular "hat" perched atop a bulbous, eye-like head, limbs splayed in angular contortions like a marionette mid-tumble. Encircling it, swirling forms cascade: ochre loops suggesting bells or ruffs, emerald tendrils evoking serpentine scarves or vines, and crimson slashes that pulse like laughter frozen in mid-gasp. The background is a turbulent sea of beige and yellow washes, mottled with teal accents that bleed into the edges, creating a sense of infinite spin. No horizon anchors the scene; instead, it's a vortex of interlocking shapes—ovals for eyes, zigzags for grins—building a claustrophobic yet ecstatic enclosure. Aarts' signature lurks in the lower corner, a hasty scrawl amid the melee, underscoring the work's impulsive genesis.

The impasto is thick and rebellious, ridges of paint catching light to mimic the jester's textured motley, while thinner glazes in the periphery suggest fading echoes of the performance. Overall, it measures perhaps 80x80 cm, intimate enough for a wall's whisper but explosive in impact.