Axel Antas's recent works deepen his related investigations into the relationship between man and nature, and in new ways of conjuring time and space through image-making. These concerns might be best described as being a meditation on how the romantic traditions in modern picture-making might be remade for and continued in the twenty first century. Baudelaire argued that "romanticism and modern art are one and the same thing, in other words: intimacy [and] yearning for the infinite... romanticism is a child of the North... dreams and fairytales are children of the mist...The North, is suffering and anxiety, takes comfort in imagination." Antas seems to interrogate these propositions, by creating startlingly new images which nevertheless are inheritors of the romantic tradition. The artist offers us a series of apparent contradictions, conjuring infinite space and intangible atmosphere through novel and unexpected means. Intimacy and the infinite might seem incompatible qualities, but Antas's recent works marry the two with grace.
© 2005 Alistair Robinson
Axel Antas (born 1976 in Finland) studied in London, where he now lives and works. He has exhibited widely in Europe, recently with solo exhibitions at Rokeby gallery in London and Heino Gallery in Helsinki. His work is currently on display e.g. in Landscape collection at Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki.
Antas is represented by the Rokeby Gallery.
These pictures are from the Interventions Series.
I've been loving Axel Antas' work for long. I discovered it in The Times a few years ago and I've been a fervent admirer since.
