Anton Schiks

was born on the 1st July 1942 in Schiedam, (next to Rotterdam) The Netherlands. He is the first born and the eldest of 6 children of a textile & tailoring family. His talent was already visible at school at an early age, his drawings which were made during art-classes had high standards. No one doubted the lack of the natural sense of art. In fact, he received grades as A's / 10 points on all occasions for his drawing and sketches, where as for counting/calculating, languages his grades were lower. Of course he had no other choice than to improve his grades to match those of art class. And, he succeeded.
The days after World War 2, every one and every family was involved in building up the country as it was heavily damaged. So, the most important thing in people's lives was to work hard in order to earn money. This meant long working hours for low wages.
For the Anton's family it was important that their son followed in their footsteps of tailoring. The income of a tailor was stable as opposed to the income of an artist. Unfortunately Anton's parents found that applying to the Art-academy was no option for Anton.
It was during an art-made-by-young-militaries exhibition, where Anton participated, when he received an award as one of the 3 very best artists. This brought enough attention about that Anton got to meet a Dutch famous TV host of Art documentaries etc., Pierre Janssen. With his recommendation Anton was offered a spot at the Art Academy of Rotterdam, without having to officially apply and do entrance exams. At that point Anton's parents finally agreed to letting him study art.

After several years and after finishing his military duty, he had exhibitions in different parts of Holland.
He exhibited in museum's and galleries, one man-shows, in groups throughout Holland, some in Belgium, Germany in the period of 1965 till 1973.

In 1975/76 he took his own family (his wife Ann and daughter Natasja) to Sri-Lanka where they settled. They had a son, Jean-Paul, in 1978. Living at that time in Sri-Lanka was in some respect very difficult due to the lack of comfort, hygiene, supermarkets & department stores.
In Colombo he exhibited a few times at the Oberoi Hotel and Intercontinental Hotel.
During the civil-war and riots in 1983 there peaceful lives abruptly came to an end. Their house was raided, belongings torn apart and smashed. To make the situations worse the house was put to fire. They had no other choice than to leave the remains, including Anton's large art collection behind, and flee.

After a few days, having lost everything, the family left Sri-Lanka and retuned to Holland at the end of July 1983.

Within half a year Anton left for South East Asia  and was joined in Thailand by his family half a year later. For scholar reasons, and others, the family returned to Holland in the summer of 1992.

During his residency in Bangkok, Anton exhibited in Thailand various times in Gallery Young Youph and Hilton Hotel. Via his connections at an art company in Japan, his work was also exhibited in Gallery Shoto, Tokyo (sold completely).

Back in Holland he exhibited again in various galleries and museum's throughout Holland.
One big Modern-Art private collector (Klasema-Art) bought a large part of Anton's collection.

Anton Schiks is a painter / artist who works in the style of "the Style Group", where Piet Mondriaan, Bart van der Leck, Theo Doesburg, Baljeu are his big favourites and examples of conspicuous / contemporary / constructive abstract art.
At one point, at the start, Anton tried the field of Surrealism, Cubism, and Expressionism but this did not give him the satisfaction he was looking for.
Being a person awareness and an eye for high quality standard, craftsmanship and taking art as a real job to do, things have to be done in style, good taste and precision.  Anton is not the kind of person who just produces something in a minute. He makes studies before making a painting, like the old masters did. Begin solid and know what you want to say, show or make a statement. Hurried and speed-up work is never an option while making a piece of art. Everything has to be in place, in harmony and well balanced. Real piece of art remains it's for a lifetime and for ever.
The motives to make a piece of art he finds daily in working with people, meeting people, studying the local & international situations.
Listening to music, classic's and today's music. Because there are many things going on in the world, there is a lot to experience.

Anton's philosophy is that life can be lived if there is harmony; balance to live in, honesty, hope, positivism. Although life can be unbearable sometimes, there is always hope. Negativity should be turned into positivity. Therefore, the power in Anton's paintings starts with building a foundation. From there onwards specific colors are being used to give the idea or feeling of/towards happiness. Anton uses many details which are repeated in the painting to get to the right composition. There is also a certain playful element to make the painting alive.

Anton has experienced many things in his life. A civil wars in Sri Lanka, a coup in Thailand, his journeys have led him to many places struck by richness as well as poverty, and has met many peoples of various cultures from all over the world. Many impressions and experiences have been gained. This returns in his artistic work.