The artist Wanda Antz

The Space for Art

The Journey

European Heritage and Homage to Africa

Training on European Tradition

Homage to Africa

From Reduction to Pop-Art

The Journey

Wanda Antz began her artistic training in the fields of stage design and pottery. Coming from a workshop- and studio-sharing community she soon set up her own studio in the former convent in Longerich. At the same time she introduced new techniques into her artistic work – the first powerful bronze and aluminum sculptures were created while cooperating with the artist couple Juan and Maria J. Fernandez.

Wanda Antz chooses her material by association: golden coloured bronze is reminiscent of the sublime and precious saintness of churches; aluminum, silvery or grey, seems to be more restrained in appearance but no less effective.

In an exhibition in 1988, the artist shows her work for the first time labelled “Kunst im Kloster” (Art in the Convent)”. Since then Wanda Antz has kept the annual tradition making her sculptures accessible within her working space, thereby establishing a sense of  an ongoing workshop in a monastic surrounding which is characteristic of many of her works. This place of origin, her home and studio, clearly influences and forms her art – it is obvious and palpable in her sculptures even when exposed at other locations.

She broadened her experience and intensified her search for inspiration in the mid-80s when starting to travel abroad. Retaining her “European” access to form and material she opened up to and integrated non-European elements and ideas into her artistic work. On annual trips to Australia and especially Africa she encounters cultures and people that since then influence  and inspire her life and art. 

Author Dr. Ruth Lang
14th of July 2009, Cologne