The Space Between

Biography

Andra Natascha Daans (1962) is born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Her mother is Dutch, her father is from Suriname. Her roots are visible from the outside and for her tangible from the inside.

Andra Daans starts her art career at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (1983-1985). She continues her study in Rome at the Free Academy of Fine Arts (1985-1989). During that period, she is invited to take part at The International Biennale, Malta (1987) and participates in a group exhibition in Rome (1988).

For many years she travels back and forth and lives in two worlds. In the Netherlands she has a business career and in Italy she works as an artist. In 2016 she decides to become a full-time artist and moves permanently to Italy.

The last few years she is focusing on developing a contemporary style with her distinctive personal signature. The result is her series of ‘Portraits of Life’, based on true, mostly painful, stories. Her paintings and drawings reflect on the life of the main character(s). Without losing reality.
Andra Daans is represented by Blackbird Gallery (US) 

 

Art statement

As I have a deep and abiding infinity with my father, his death in 2018 had a significant impact on my work. I discovered that my father's grandmother was born into slavery on a sugar plantation in Suriname; I had never known that slavery was part of my family history.

With my artwork, I want to reflect on the life of enslaved and or poor children, without losing reality, giving them an expressive identity.  In my new series of paintings, I want to show the painful history of slavery. Portraits of innocent enslaved children based on all-time archive but also recent taken photographs. You may see a happy face, but the truth could be quite the opposite.

​