The artist Wanda Antz
European Heritage and Homage to Africa |
Training on European Tradition In spite of the many influences of African culture upon the art work of Wanda Antz, there is a separate creative process the roots of which are to be found in her European descent. Examples are the design of a tomb, a large bronze Madonna posted in a niche in the convents facade, the 1993 work for “Totensonntag” – (Sunday of commemoration of the dead), the “Urnenfeld” (Field of Urnes) five years later, the bronze “Achill”, the aluminum disk “Luna”, preparations and models for the sculpture “Ahnen” (Ancestors), smaller works of old tools and iron findings… In this, Wanda Antz does not submit to any particular style of modernity. Strict minimalism and reduction of the form are characteristic for her „European“ works, thereby allowing the very essence to emerge. The repetition of forms, variating occasionally, the re-creation by using different materials and different colours let her sculptures appear as being parts of a series; yet, a special meaning and emphasis is being put on each art work. The “Ahnen”, "Ancestors“, for example, two large iron chairs whose upper backrests are shaped as profiles of human heads having an individual weight. They do not suffer from the coexistence: instead, they gain meaning in coexistence - a result that is more than the addition of the perfect and harmonious single pieces. Dr. Ruth Lang, author |