Stephen Dean in the Elleboogkerk

Stephen Dean is a French-American artist known for using colored dichroic glass in his large-scale ladder sculptures, through which light both passes to project color stains on floor and wall and through which light is reflected so that the glass itself is a plane of color. In doing so, he creates dynamic light-based art installations. His time-based works and installations evoke different approaches to color. Often working from existing forms or events, Dean focuses on the immediacy of color and its ability to transcend language and cultural codes. Especially for the Elleboogkerk Stephen Dean made the installation ECHO, 2026. This is an adaptation of the installation Crescendo that Dean made at the Cathedral of Saint-Denis in Paris in 2024. ECHO is an extension of the exhibition Stairway to...? about stairs and ladders that will be on display at Kunsthal KAdE starting Jan. 31, 2026.

Stephen Dean: “A ladder fits perfectly in a place that connects the earthly to the heavenly world. It is present in so many religions, perhaps all of them; the ladder of Jacob for Judeo-Christian Christians, Mohammed's ascension from the Dome of the Rock for Muslims, and it also appears in Buddhism. Beyond religion, he is a symbol of upward movement, of ascension, of flight."

ECHO is on view from Jan. 31 to Aug. 30, 2026, at the Elleboogkerk, Amersfoort