Sint, Jansplein

In Antwerp you will find many references to the artist Panamarenko, a pseudonym for Henri Van Herwegen (1940-2019). He lived and worked most of his life in Antwerp, where he also completed his education at the Antwerp Academy. He is considered one of the most important Belgian sculptors of the second half of the 20th century, who even held exhibitions in London, Basel and New York. Influenced by his grandfather an architect and his father an electrical engineer, he developed a fascination for technology and spatial constructions. Especially flying in the broadest sense of the word intrigued him. He designed scale models of numerous imaginary vehicles, airplanes, balloons or helicopters in all possible original and surprising shapes. They are all variations on the dream of flying as in the myth of Icarus. Whether these craft can actually fly is part of the mystery and appeal. His pseudonym Panamarenko is also the contraction of "Pan American Airlines and Company". In a new district of Antwerp on the south which is still in full development, they named a square after him as a tribute. On that square is one of his art works, the Bing II ; a bronze flying saucer with a diameter of 3.5 m. On St. Jansplein you’ll find the artwork, Pepto Bismo, a bronze statue of a man with propellers on his back. At the same Sint Jansplein the artist Werner Mannaers covered an entire pavilion with mosaic as a tribute to Panamarenko. The former home and workshop of Panamarenko in Biekorfstraat with completely intact furniture was sold to the museum Muhka and can be visited. It is a remarkable building with a helicopter platform on top of the roof. In the opposite of it on the facade of a newspaper vendor you find a huge mural by graffiti artist Yvon Tordoir (Aerosol Kings), who was inspired by Panamarenko's futuristic spacecraft. #anvers #stadantwerpen #vierkantwerpen #peptobismo #instantwerpen #pilot #ig #antwerpphoto #contemporaryart #visitantwerp #flying #thisisantwerp #antwerpen #themepark#zoo#nationalpark#lakes