'Canal Ride' by Leon Aarts 2012, acrylics on board 400 x 500mm (for sale)

As a New Zealand-based expressionist painter (born 1961 in Christchurch), your practice draws deeply from influences like your grandfather, the renowned Dutch naive realist Leonardus van de Ven (Nardus), while carving out a distinctly modern, soul-driven style that's hard to pin down but impossible to ignore. Acrylics on board at 400mm x 500mm feels intimate yet expansive, like a window into a dreamlike reverie, and this piece from 2012 exemplifies your command of color as "the colouring of the soul"—a nod to your own inspirations from Mondrian and Balthus.

At first glance, Canal Ride pulses with a nocturnal energy, evoking a surreal journey along Amsterdam's watery veins or perhaps a more internalized, psychological voyage. The composition is framed by bold, interlocking shapes in deep indigos and navies—almost like the hulls and bridges of canal architecture abstracted into jagged, protective borders. These enclose a central vortex: a radiant yellow spiral, swirling like a whirlpool of light or a lantern's glow piercing fog, cradling shadowy, elongated figures in tender embrace. The figures—humanoid yet fluid, with elongated limbs and minimal features—suggest intimacy amid motion, their forms rendered in soft grays and umbers that contrast the electric pinks, reds, and ochres bleeding at the edges. Textural drips and smears add a raw, impulsive quality, as if the paint itself is riding the current, refusing stasis.

The palette is masterful in its tension: cool blues dominate the periphery for a sense of depth and enclosure, while warm yellows and reds inject urgency and passion at the core. It's not literal—there's no overt "canal" or "ride"—but the title unlocks layers, hinting at fluidity, reflection, and the gentle sway of a boat through urban twilight.Canal Ride is a luminous, introspective triumph—4.5 out of 5 stars. It captures that elusive "expressionism in the air" you champion, blending familial legacy with raw innovation. In a world of polished minimalism, your unapologetic pours and swirls feel revolutionary, inviting us to ride the canal of the subconscious. If this is available, I'd urge collectors to snap it up; it pairs perfectly with your Saatchi portfolio pieces like Untitled for a thematic exploration of light and longing.