
The scenes depicted in Henri Haake’s paintings and drawings contemplate moments of the everyday. Idiosyncratic compositions and cutouts create a particular perspective on how we encounter the pictured. At first glance, the paintings appear seemingly familiar, even universal, through details that allow for an immediate recognition of the subject. However, the longer one dedicates to looking, the richer the visual world of the canvas becomes. The paintings constantly invite us to look twice — unveiling deeper layers of information that were blurred at first sight.
Drawing from digital, fictional and the real, mythology and life, the tangible and the subconscious, Haake creates obscured worlds by conflating different fragments of reality. This interplay blurs the boundary between the familiar and mysterious while at the same time uniting the spirits of the past and present. It can’t be overlooked that Haake’s pictorial worlds are anchored in a deep understanding of the medium’s history. References and reinterpretations of historical motifs and paintings are constantly feeding into his artistic process.
Playing with the presence and absence of his protagonists Haake’s paintings are constantly concealing, revealing and rediscovering their subjects. People and their stories seem to be the central element in the works, yet they are pushed to the edge of the canvas — faces and bodies are cut off, overclouded and hidden behind layers of paint. This interconnection of the visible and the unseen emphasizes the artist’s interest in opacity and the importance of the painterly gesture. The interplay of disintegration and re-creation is an immanent part of the artist’s practice as it allows a playful approach when trying out and neglecting ideas. Oftentimes we recognize similar themes reintroduced in various dimensions, shapes and colors.
In his rich, multilayered paintings and drawings, Henri Haake transforms everyday experience into art that contemplates the inner self while reaching towards the universe’s vast mysteries, inviting reflection on the delicate interplay of the known and the unknown. Human life is the narrative substance of these paintings that seek to illuminate our relationship towards the world. In the scenes he creates, Haake 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, spent a semester at Hunter College in New York City in 2013, and graduated with a Meisterschüler diploma in 2016. He lives and works in Berlin and Rome.
group exhibitions (selected)
2024 My Body is a Temple, Studio Hanniball, Berlin
Berlin
TOURIST, crowded (Salon am Moritzplatz),
SHUDDER MORNINGS, Cabin, Berlin
BE MY GUEST, NAVE, Lisbon
2023 Another day at the office, OFFICE IMPART,
Berlin
Dammi i colori, Sociedade Nacional de Belas
Artes, Lisboa
Enter Art Fair, OFFICE IMPART, Copenhagen
2022 GOING PLACES, Nicole Gnesa, Munich
2021 AT A MOMENT IN TIME, Kunstverein Arnsberg
group show, OFFICE IMPART, Berlin
solo exhibitions
2024 BAD GATEWAY, Obelus, Berlin
FLOATING WORLDS, NAVE, Lisbon
2023 OMG, OFFICE IMPART, Berlin
DREAMLINER, Mikael Andersen, Copenhagen
2022 Honey Lotion, OFFICE IMPART, Berlin
2018 Panorama, Studio Dapontegasse, Wien
2012 Roter Rauch, Manzoni Schäper, Berlin
2010 Gleichzeitigkeit, Color Works, Lübeck
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