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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.