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