Chris Antemann

Inspired by eighteenth-century porcelain figurines, Chris Antemann’s work employs a unity of design and concept to simultaneously examine and parody male and female relationship roles. Characters, themes, and incidents build upon each other, effectively forming their own language that speaks about domestic rites, social etiquette, and taboos. Themes from the classics and the romantics are given a contemporary edge; elaborate dinner parties, picnic luncheons and ornamental gardens set the stage for her twisted tales to unfold.

Antemann’s work has been exhibited extensively in the United States, Europe, and Asia, including at Opulence States Taiwan, Holter Museum of Art (MT), Bellevue Arts Museum (WA), The Frick Pittsburgh (PA), Ferrin Gallery (MA), and Fifth Element Gallery (OR), among others. Her work can be found in many private and public collections, including the Museum of Arts and Design (NY), The 21 C. Hotel Museum (IL), The KAMM Teapot Foundation (NC), The Archie Bray Foundation (MT), and The Crocker Art Museum (CA). She has been an artist-in-residence at The Archie Bray Foundation and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center’s Arts/Industry at Kohler Co. (WI), where she was the NEA funded resident. In 2010 she was the first-place winner of the Virginia A. Groot Grant, a prestigious grant awarded to artists working in 3D that allows them time to further their work. Antemann has been working with MEISSE, Europe’s oldest porcelain manufacturer, on unique and limited-edition artworks. This experience offered her the opportunity to create her largest installation, Forbidden Fruit: Chris Antemann at MEISSEN, which travelled for seven years in the US from the Portland Art Museum (OR), the Museum of Arts and Design (NY), and The State Hermitage Museum (Russia), among others.

Antemann earned her MFA in ceramics from the University of Minnesota and her BFA in ceramics and painting from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.