Installation view, SPACES exhibition, Iven Orx & Aaron Vinn, Cologne, 2025

September 1, 2025 – February 28, 2026

Exhibition hours
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 4 – 7 pm
and by appointment

ART COLOGNE, Nov 6–8, 4–10 pm

Iven Orx & Aaron Vinn present an exhibition in their Cologne studio spaces that, for the first time, brings together their four main series – SEAM, VEIL, CORE, and LIMEN – in a single constellation, while also introducing initial works from the emerging series PROJECT 05. The exhibition reveals how the artists’ visual language unfolds from cycle to cycle, opening new threshold spaces in the process.

„We are intrigued by the moment when a form is no longer fully closed, but held together by an invisible energy. When a line breaks or a surface threatens to tilt, a space of intensity opens up for us. There, the painting begins to breathe, and within this breath lies something of what we perceive as the essential: a state of transition in which everything seems possible.“

Iven Orx & Aaron Vinn

In SEAM, Orx & Vinn focus on the seam as a site of transition. Works such as PRIMORDIAL TIDE (2024) and ARCHAIC CURRENT (2024) emphasize the tension between rupture and connection, while EARTHWAVE SILENCE (2023) lets lines traverse the canvas like neural pathways. These paintings unfold a tectonic dynamism, where the surface becomes perceptible as an active process.

„SEAM focuses less on the line itself and more on what it evokes. A seam is never merely separation or connection; it is always both at once. It carries a fragile tension that charges and renders visible the space between two poles. For us, this in-between is not an empty field, but a place of intensity where forces act that would otherwise remain unseen.“

Iven Orx & Aaron Vinn

„The works in SEAM resemble tectonic plates – they collide, rub against each other, yet maintain a larger whole in balance. A rhythm of proximity and distance, tension and release, becomes visible within the paintings. It is precisely in this friction that the beauty lies: the seam that not only connects the separated, but simultaneously reshapes it.“

Iven Orx & Aaron Vinn, EARTHWAVE SILENCE, SEAM series, 2023, paint on canvas, 63,4 x 79,1 x 1,2 in (161 x 201 x 3 cm) – Detail view highlighting the work’s texture and structure

Installation view, SPACES exhibition, Iven Orx & Aaron Vinn, Cologne, 2025

The VEIL series explores concealment and revelation. In GHOSTED LIGHT (2023), a translucent veil permeates the canvas, filtering perception without obstructing it. HOVERING LUMINESCENCE (2023) plays with overlapping layers of light and darkness, intensifying the moment of transition, while SUN’S WHISPER (2023) stages a fragile balance between permeability and shadow.

„In VEIL, we are not interested in what the veil conceals, but in the tension of the in-between. The painting is neither open nor closed, but both at once. This suspended state captivates us: it compels the gaze to perceive not only the obvious, but the transitions in between. The veil is thus not a barrier, but an invitation to come closer and linger longer.“

Iven Orx & Aaron Vinn

Iven Orx & Aaron Vinn, GHOSTED LIGHT, VEIL series, 2023, paint, white gold on canvas, 63 x 39,4 x 2 in (160 x 100 x 5 cm) – Detail views highlighting the work’s texture and structure

With CORE, the artists move toward the pulsating center of their visual language. Works such as NOCTURNAL BOUNDARY (2023) and OCEANIC VEIN (2023) form sculptural condensations that act like energetic nodes. In QUANTUM BURST (2023), masses of color press to the surface, as if the painting itself were under tension from within.

CORE works with condensations that resemble geological cores – as if revealing the Earth’s inner layers. These are pictorial spaces that appear formed under pressure, compressions of time and energy. Within this density, something indissoluble emerges: a tension that does not escape, but settles into the painting, drawing viewers into another, deeper movement.

Iven Orx & Aaron Vinn, NOCTURNAL BOUNDARY, CORE series, 2023, paint on canvas, 86,6 x 57,1 x 1,2 in (220 x 145 x 3 cm) – Detail view highlighting the work’s texture and structure

Installation view, SPACES exhibition, Iven Orx & Aaron Vinn, Cologne, 2025

Finally, LIMEN explores the threshold as a space of experience. In NANOPARADISE (2023), the canvas opens into a state of suspension, while TRANSCENDENT FIELD (2024) suggests a passage that is simultaneously a gateway and a barrier. CELESTIAL INTERVAL (2023) evokes an atmosphere that makes transformation tangible – a transition that cannot be fixed, but remains in motion.

„For us, LIMEN is a place of instability. One cannot tell whether they have already entered or are still standing before it. We understand this uncertainty not as a deficiency, but as potential. Here lies the true possibility for change – in a space that knows no clear boundary, deriving its power from suspension.“

Iven Orx & Aaron Vinn

Iven Orx & Aaron Vinn, NANOPARADISE, LIMEN series, 2023, paint on canvas, 47,2 x 47,2 x 1,2 in (120 x 120 x 3 cm) – Detail views highlighting the work’s texture and structure

The first works of PROJECT 05 mark a new approach in the artists’ practice. In PROJECT 05/1–5, tectonic shifts become visible, while PROJECT 05/6 points toward an emerging order that is not yet fully perceptible. This series emphasizes the processual nature of Orx & Vinn’s work and opens a perspective on what lies ahead.

„It is a rare privilege to witness a cycle in the making. PROJECT 05 allows us to share precisely this moment of uncertainty and exploration. Nothing is yet complete, yet much is already hinted at: movements that coalesce, spaces that unfold. Precisely because the cycle is still in formation, it points more strongly than others to the unknown inherent in every artistic endeavor.“

Iven Orx & Aaron Vinn

By interweaving completed cycles with an open, unfolding process in this exhibition, the artists create a parcours that brings the past, present, and future of their practice into a dense field of resonance.