top of page
Henri Haake Studio.jpg

The scenes we enter in Henri Haake’s paintings and drawings seem familiar to us, they contemplate moments of everyday life. The depicted scenes are everyday – universal even and easily accessible to all. Taking a second look however, we discover deeper layers of information that were blurred or have been overlooked beforehand. The works constantly invite us to look twice. Therefore revisiting the canvas becomes an essential part of understanding the ambiguity and complexity of the works.

Playing with the presence and absence of his protagonists Haake’s paintings are constantly concealing, revealing and rediscovering their subjects. Even though people are the central element in the works, they are often pushed to the edge of the canvas, sometimes faces and bodies are cut off or hidden behind layers of paint. More centred we often recognise objects and space. The emphasis on this underlines that Haake’s attention lies decidedly on a painterly gesture.

 

At his works Haake arrives circuitously through a process of experimentation and error. A closer look at the paintings’ surfaces reveals different layers of paint and old subjects that shimmer through. Once a motif has failed, Haake paints over it. This cycle of production and destruction is an immanent part of his artistic practice as it allows him to have a playful approach in trying out and neglecting ideas. Oftentimes we recognise similar themes that are reintroduced in varying formats, shapes and colors.

 

So what are we looking at? Something evident? Something invisible? Or perhaps nothing at all?

We are, after all, witnesses of the transformation of everyday experience into art. The paintings and drawings are trying to help us in understanding our relationship towards the world. In the scenes Haake creates, he juxtaposes humane, social, sexual, religious and historical motifs in a playful approach and imbues the mundane scenes with both presence and poetic charm. For the artist, the importance doesn’t lie in the everyday scene itself, but in the fleeting moments of transcendence within it, visible only to those who want to see.

Born in Lübeck in 1989, Henri Haake studied at the University of Fine Arts in Berlin from 2010-2016 under Professor Robert Lucander, where he would spend a semester at Hunter College in New York City in 2013, and graduate with a Meisterschüler diploma in 2016. He lives and works in Berlin, Germany. His works have been shown at numerous solo and group exhibitions.

group exhibitions (selected)

2024                My Body is a Temple, Studio Hanniball, Berlin

Berlin

TOURIST, crowded (Salon am Moritzplatz),

SHUDDER MORNINGS, Cabin, Berlin

solo exhibitions

2024                FLOATING WORLDS, NAVE, Lisbon

2023                OMG, OFFICE IMPART, Berlin

BE MY GUEST, NAVE, Lisbon

2023                DREAMLINER, Mikael Andersen, Copenhagen

2023                Another day at the office, OFFICE IMPART,

Berlin

                        Dammi i colori, Sociedade Nacional de Belas

2022                Honey Lotion, OFFICE IMPART, Berlin

Artes, Lisboa

Enter Art Fair, OFFICE IMPART, Copenhagen

2022                GOING PLACES, Nicole Gnesa, Munich

2021                AT A MOMENT IN TIME, Kunstverein Arnsberg

2018                Panorama, Studio Dapontegasse, Wien

2012                Roter Rauch, Manzoni Schäper, Berlin

2010                Gleichzeitigkeit, Color Works, Lübeck

group show, OFFICE IMPART, Berlin

2019                Haake - Poznanska, KM28, Berlin

WHAT'S LEFT FROM PARADISE, Rundgänger,

Frankfurt am Main (duo)

all out "small" closing, KWADRAT, Berlin

Kommunizierende Röhren, Salon René Holm,

Berlin 

2018                Demi-gros, Save Gallery, Berlin

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

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, UdK, Berlin

Dialog der Residuen- Henri Haake & Jeewi Lee

Galerie Villa Köppe, Berlin

2015                _ndo, Museum Jorge Rando, Málaga

2014                Umwandlung, Quer-Gallery UDK, Berlin

2013                Open Studio, Hunter College, New York City

Nachschlag, Uferhallen Wedding, Berlin

2012                Berlin-London, Gutshaus Erlenbach, Zürich

prizes

 

2016                 Knispel Preis für Malerei und Zeichnung

bottom of page