Visual mischief-maker extraordinaire, Anton Henning wittily dissects art history, rearranging and re-layering past references to produce ironic new creations. Tongue in cheek tributes to bygone masters or unlikely combinations of disparate historical styles, Henning’s work encompasses painting, sculpture, photography and installation.
Born 1964 in Berlin, Henning is a self-taught artist. From the mid-80s he lived between Berlin, London and New York, and drew on the arts scenes of these three cities to develop his trademark cocktails of avant-garde styles. Though Henning considers himself chiefly a painter, individual pieces are often presented in all-encompassing room installations or “gesamtkunstwerke”, which include sculpture or even furnishings designed by the artist. These spaces, described as “Salons” or “Interieurs,” humorously question the value of art and bourgeois definitions of “good taste.”
Since his first presentation in 1988, Henning has held over 60 solo shows across Europe, USA and Japan, as well as countless group exhibitions. His work is represented in the permanent collections of numerous museums including Centre National des Arts, Paris; MOCA, Los Angeles, and the National Museum of Art, Osaka. In 2000, he was commissioned to design the bistro for Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck, a large-scale work entitled “Interieur No. 253”.
