Biography
Leon Van Den Eijkel was born in 1940 in The Hague, Netherlands. He studied at the Royal Academy of Arts from 1958-1963 before moving to Leiden. He arrived in New Zealand in 1986, first living in Wellington from 1986-1998 then in Auckland until his death in 2021.
Leon van den Eijkel exhibited widely in Europe, the United States and in New Zealand. His work is represented in many major public and private collections including the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Museum Boijman, Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Ghent, Belgium; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Te Papa Tongarewa, Museum of New Zealand, Wellington.
Commissions and Exhibitions include:
1988 - Major sculpture for the Keystone Trust Sculpture Project: Red Cloud Confrontation at The Farm, Auckland, N.Z.
2004 - Wall installation A Walk in the Clouds for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade at the Embassy of The Hague, The Netherlands.
2005 - Wall installation Light of Colour for Brian R Richards Ltd, Auckland, N.Z.
2007 - Wellington Urban Forest for the Wellington Sculpture Trust, N.Z
2008 - The Smiling Windmills for Avalon Park Lower Hutt, N.Z
2009 - Cross(Road), Sculpture on the Gulf, Waiheke Island, N.Z and The Remembrance Windmill, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia.
2010 - The Next Big Family Series, Plantage Galerie, Leiden, The Netherlands.
2011 - Towards Photography, Toi Gallery, Waiheke Island, Auckland N.Z. Colour Coding New paintings and works on paper, Bowen Galleries, Wellington N.Z.
2012 - Colour Coding works on paper. Bath Street Gallery, Auckland, N.Z.
2013 - Baubles at Brick Bay Sculpture Trail, Snells Beach, N.Z.
2014 - The Playing Windmills at Hobsonville Point Primary School, Auckland N.Z.
2017 - The Geometric Totem Pole at Brick Bay Sculpture Trail, Snells Beach, N.Z.
For almost 30 years, van den Eijkel produced lightboxes, sculptures, paintings and multimedia installations that utilised reflective surfaces and colours that were often based on the continuing dialogue between his homeland and the Pacific.