Panamarenko

Photography Dolf Pauw

Panamarenko was a contemporary Belgian artist known for his mixed-media sculptures of airplanes, zeppelins, and flying saucers. Despite being modeled after aerodynamic engineering, Panamerenko's works are not necessarily capable of flight—an irony deliberately invoking the sentiment found in the myth of Icarus. Most of his work involves the history of engineering and aviation as a metaphor for failure, hope, and human exploration. Born Henri Van Herwegen on February 5, 1940 in Antwerp, Belgium, he was educated at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. In 1968, one of the artist’s biggest influences Joseph Beuys invited Panamerenko to exhibit his Flugzeug piece at the Düsseldorf Kunstakademie. He has gone on to exhibit his works globally at spaces like the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid and The Museum of Modern Art in New York. A retrospective of his works was held in 2005 at the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Brussels. LINK site Panamarenko