Anton van Dalen: A Portrait of a Socially Conscious Artist
Anton van Dalen was a remarkable artist whose life’s work was deeply intertwined with the vibrant pulse of the Lower East Side, where he resided for over five decades. A dedicated pigeon keeper and a long-time collaborator of the renowned illustrator Saul Steinberg, van Dalen meticulously documented the neighborhood’s transformation from a state of neglect to one of burgeoning gentrification through his evocative paintings, drawings, and sculptures.
Perhaps his most celebrated creation is the performance piece entitled “Avenue A Cut-Out Theater.” This intricate, three-foot-tall cardboard model of his own townhouse at 166 Avenue A served as a canvas for van Dalen’s artistic vision. He populated the model with hand-painted and photographed cutouts representing a diverse array of urban life: police officers clad in riot gear, junkies, homeless individuals, sex workers, hawks, pigeons, and dogs, alongside depictions of a burned-out car, churches, temples, and community gardens.
During performances, often held for students in his home studio, van Dalen would reach into the model, carefully extracting the cutouts and placing them on tables and the floor. Through this interactive storytelling, he conveyed the narrative of a once-neglected part of the city, evoking memories of a war-torn Holland during World War II when he first arrived in the late 1960s. He vividly illustrated the metamorphosis of the area into a hub of affluent residential and commercial development, capturing the bittersweet essence of change.
In a retrospective reflection on van Dalen’s work from 1996, it was noted that he was best recognized for “Avenue A Cut-Out Theater,” a piece that encapsulated the heart and soul of his artistic journey.
Describing a performance by Mr. van Dalen in 2015, the esteemed critic David Frankel wrote in Artforum: “The box also gave him something of the quality of the old-time itinerant musician or carny with a hurdy-gurdy or box of puppets on his back — in other words, someone unfixed and mobile, making a self-contained kind of art that he can produce easily wherever he goes.”
Wendy Olsoff, co-founder of the PPOW Gallery in Manhattan, remarked, “It was magical, like seeing Calder’s Circus,” referring to the enchanting troupe of miniature circus performers and animals created by the sculptor Alexander Calder. The gallery has proudly hosted three solo exhibitions showcasing the brilliance of Anton van Dalen’s work, celebrating his unique contributions to art and culture.
