Henri Haake was born in Lübeck in 1989. From 2010-2016 he studied at the University of Fine Arts in Berlin and at Hunter College in New York City in 2013. Being mentored by Professor Robert Lucander, he graduated with a Meisterschüler diploma in 2016. Henri Haake lives and workes in Berlin, Germany. His works were shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions.

 

It’s a new perspective, a strange angle of how we look at the everyday scenarios we discover in Henri Haake’s work. Daily observations in public places and in digital spheres as well as images of his own memory result in a variety of scenarios. Oftentimes people are portrayed while pursuing ordinary activity like standing on an escalator, sitting at a table or driving a car. A very peculiar perspective and the uncommon composition that Haake uses differ from other painters of his genre. Sometimes we find ourself too close to the pictured or we look slightly from above, almost like from a bird’s eye view. Now and then people and faces are cut-off; they have their eyes closed, hide their gaze behind the painted or even outside the canvas. Some of the compositions remind us of smartphone photos we all take in our everyday lives. In Haake’s paintings we sense an idea of the artists perception of the world. The works emanate a certain tranquillity that mesmerizes us. We look at humoresque pictures that are not hiding their playful approach as well as more melancholic or contemplative imagery. In his works Haake scrutinizes life as such and how living together with all its ease and gloom can be portrayed. Above all we can’t overlook the pictures’ existentialistic tendency which is contiguous to the question of beauty.

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Looking close at the surface of the paintings we recognize different layers of paint, yet old parts of overpainted subjects shimmer through. Once a painted subject failed it gets easily destroyed by Haake. This dynamic process of production and destruction is an immanent part of his artistic methods. Subjets he likes reappear in different formats, shapes and colour in order to experiment on the first idea and to see how different a thought can be realized. A very distinct coloration is an important theme in Haake’s work that binds all the pieces together.

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The interdependence of privacy and public is an occurrent theme in Haake's works whereby borders of genuine insight and voyeuristic superficiality blur. The recipient enters a dreamlike world of memory and imagination that confronts the observer with their own reality. At the same time Haake’s works deal a lot with spontaneity of painting, haptic enjoyment and the simple beauty of the everyday. The struggle of old and new, nature and technology, feminine and masculine intermingle. Eventually we distinguish the work not only as a counterweight against the complexity and speed of our time but furthermore as an assistance, comrade or pace that allows us to think of our lives in a different way.

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„Maybe it’s less about a transcendent or even profound experience of art but rather to make you smile or excite a thought at heart that helps you through the earthly dilemma.“ (Henri Haake)

prices

 

2016                 Knispel Preis für Malerei und Zeichnung

group exhibitions (selected)

 

2021                IN A MOMENT OF TIME, Ausstellung der                                             Jahresgaben, Kunstverein Arnsberg

                        group show, OFFICE IMPART, Berlin

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2019                Haake - Poznanska, KM28, Berlin

                        WHAT'S LEFT FROM PARADISE, Rundgänger,                                     Frankfurt am Main

                        all out "small" closing, KWADRAT, Berlin

                        Kommunizierende Röhren, Salon René Holm, Berlin 

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2018                Demi-gros, Save Gallery, Berlin

                        That´s all right mama, XXY-Raum für Kunst, Berlin

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2017                Unexpectations 2 - Wo die Blumen sind, Atrium                                   Tower, Berlin

                        Warum bin ich eigentlich Deutscher,

                        Kunstverein Wiesen

 

2016                Berlin Masters, A3 Arndt Art Agency, Berlin

                        Meisterschülerausstellung, Universität der Künste,                             Berlin

                        Dialog der Residuen- Henri Haake & Jeewi Lee,                                 Galerie Villa Köppe, Berlin 

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2015                _ndo, Museum Jorge Rando, Málaga

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2014                Umwandlung, Quer-Gallery UDK, Berlin

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2013                Open Studio, Hunter College, New York City

                        Nachschlag, Uferhallen Wedding, Berlin

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2012                Berlin-London, Gutshaus Erlenbach, Zürich

solo exhibitions

 

2018                Panorama, Studio Dapontegasse, Wien

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2012                Roter Rauch, Manzoni Schäper, Berlin

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2010                Gleichzeitigkeit, Color Works, Lübeck