Woody van Amen

Wilhelmus Josephus (Woody) van Amen (Eindhoven August 26, 1936) is a Dutch sculptor, painter and collage artist.

He was introduced to the work of American artists such as Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg, pioneers in the pop art movement.

Van Amen drew inspiration from this approach and made a number of paintings in which he incorporated familiar brands from the Netherlands.

For example, his work Electric Chair from 1964 was an assemblage piece made of waste wood and had everything necessary for the execution of the death sentence.

He modified the weight loss devices of that time so that they were completely deprived of their function and became components of large torture instruments made of cold chrome.

The steel springs that were attached to the devices vibrated so that the whole resembled fat western bodies that were trembling and shivering.

In the 1970s he started to make frequent trips to Switzerland and Southeast Asia, which is the basis of an oriental influence in his work.