Anton Smit South African, b. 1954

Anton Smit was born in Boksburg, South Africa is a celebrated sculptor who is widely revered for his overwhelming heads and monumental bronze sculptures, evoking themes of suffering, reconciliation, glory and sublimation. His works grace public and private collections locally and abroad, was featured at SCOPE Art Fair New York 2017.

Anton likes to imbue his work with an illusion of movement or gesture, bodies curling up or limbs reaching out to the onlooker, a call to movement.

Some observers have noted that this is why so many of his pieces, even the most abstract ones, manage to communicate powerfully and emotionally. His sculptures and art is possessed of a raw, earthy power that feels innately African.

Anton's work is included in the permanent collections of the Pretoria Art Museum, Rembrandt Foundation, Graff/Delaire Collection.

Spoken verse, the echoes of emotive lyrics and the rasping of sculptures in progress are customary sounds emitted from his studio. Larger than life, Anton Smit is the embodiment of poetry, an apt term for this sculptor, derived from the term "making".

"Man himself then is mouthpiece, medium and meaning all in one, and his challenge as an artist is to create himself over and over again, finding new connotations and new concepts in given shapes, figures and faces.

Man emulates and assimilates nature, producing poetry in word and form."

Anton likes to imbue his work with an illusion of movement or gesture, bodies curling up or limbs reaching out to the onlooker, inspirational "action figures" projecting tremendous emotion, a call to movement. He works with metals and stones, also creating a unique iron and polymer cast mixture, which combines metal with several other mediums.

Anton spends and works the first three months of the year in his Cape studios in Strand and for the rest of the year in his studios at Bronkhorstspruit Dam, where he oversees a dedicated work force of 16 people. "We are like family."

Anton Smit in his creative prime is a force to be reckoned with.