Anton Henning
12 Apr - 03 May 2007
ANTON HENNING
Vernissasge: Thursday, 12th April 07 p.m.,
the exhibition runs until 3rd May 07.
It is a fact that Anton Henning is a self-taught artist. What exactly that means in relation to his work is not so clearcut. If we are interested in the biographical Henning, for instance, it could mean that he has an innate will to paint, or that he infuses each of his paintings with an unmediated energy, if not a style, uniquely his own; as an incidental fact, it could mean nothing and just drop away. However, this would bring us no closer understanding Henning’s painting s t y l e.
Here is another fact: New Yorker Times critic Roberta Smith described Henning’s New York Debut as follows “This Young Berlin artist’s Neoexpressionist canvases, large-scale collages and drawings ... reflect a capable melding of styles: Julian Schnabel, George Condo, Joseph Beuys and Cy Twombly, with a bit of Picasso thrown in for good measure.” In other words, Henning’s artwork discloses a formula equating styles and artist’s proper names: the reduction of style to the subject of biography.
Alan J. Hanson (from the catalogue of Galerie Ernst Hilger, September 1991)
Anton Henning was born 1964 in Berlin, he lives in Berlin and Manker.
Vernissasge: Thursday, 12th April 07 p.m.,
the exhibition runs until 3rd May 07.
It is a fact that Anton Henning is a self-taught artist. What exactly that means in relation to his work is not so clearcut. If we are interested in the biographical Henning, for instance, it could mean that he has an innate will to paint, or that he infuses each of his paintings with an unmediated energy, if not a style, uniquely his own; as an incidental fact, it could mean nothing and just drop away. However, this would bring us no closer understanding Henning’s painting s t y l e.
Here is another fact: New Yorker Times critic Roberta Smith described Henning’s New York Debut as follows “This Young Berlin artist’s Neoexpressionist canvases, large-scale collages and drawings ... reflect a capable melding of styles: Julian Schnabel, George Condo, Joseph Beuys and Cy Twombly, with a bit of Picasso thrown in for good measure.” In other words, Henning’s artwork discloses a formula equating styles and artist’s proper names: the reduction of style to the subject of biography.
Alan J. Hanson (from the catalogue of Galerie Ernst Hilger, September 1991)
Anton Henning was born 1964 in Berlin, he lives in Berlin and Manker.