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Eckart Hahn
Dong
2007
ink on daphne paper/wood
160 x 300 cm
Private collection, Miami
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 ckart Hahn’s large acrylic paintings are surrealistic works that offer much room for association. His art is not truly explainable, nor is it intended to be. Hahn creates his own curious worlds where familiar things emerge in strange context. He often deals with polarizing social issues without providing any clear answers.
Eckart Hahn was born in 1971 in Freiburg, Germany. He studied Photography and Graphic Design at the Johannes-Gutenberg-Schule in Stuttgart, Germany and Art History at the Eberhardt-Karl-University in Tübingen, Germany.
Hahn and has made a name for himself internationally. He is represented by Pablo's Birthday in New York City, Galerie Eikelmann in Düsseldorf, Germany and Galerie Rothamel in Erfurt & Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Hahn will be exhibiting at the Museumquartier in Wien Austria in 2009. His works have been shown at the Kunstverein in Bad Salzdetfurth, Stadthaus Ulm, the Mannheimer Kunstverein, Art Moscow, Art Cologne, and Scope Miami, to name a few.
Hahn was awarded the Förderpreis from the Verband Bildender Künstler Württemberg in 2005
Art Interview: The demand for your work is very high and you have had continuous sellout exhibitions since 2005. What did it take for you to reach this point?
Eckart Hahn: Before I had a gallery it was very difficult. In the 1990's nobody wanted to see figurative work in the style that I painted in. I was using a lot of letters and words in the paintings and these were being rejected. Apparently I was standing in the shadow of other painters such as Neo Rauch. Initially it was very difficult to convince people that I was creating an original world that was very different. I didn't have the opportunity to talk about my work or my ideas with curators. There are two questions that filter out artists in Germany: Who was your professor and where did you study? People tend use to these two questions to decide who is collectable. I was one of the artists who somehow managed to break through this barrier.
Art Interview: Has anyone in your life influenced your work or acted as a role model for you?
Eckart Hahn: I never had role models or looked for elements inother artists' work that I could use. There are a few photographers that I admire such as Jeff Wall and Thomas Demand with his photographic sculptures. I think Tim Berresheim is one of the most interesting artists who combine photography with digital painting. I can't explain why I like certain artists, but these three are people who definitely impress me.
Art Interview: Did you study painting and drawing techniques?
Eckart Hahn: No, I taught myself. I never wanted to be "an artist"! All of the so-called painters that I knew acted like stereotypes. I felt that they were more concerned with creating a persona than creating paintings. Their self-image as artists came before the production of their work. This experience made me feel very negative about qualifying myself as "an artist" even though I had always painted. I started drawing and painting at a time when the academies had no interest in my style. So, I studied photography because I saw it as a way to have a creative profession and to earn money.
Art Interview: Did you work professionally as a photographer?
Eckart Hahn: No, I quickly realized that photography wasn't for me. The camera always seemed to separate me from the images I wanted to create. Photography lacked something that I needed.
Art Interview: Do you have a group of artists that discuss your ideas with?
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Eckart Hahn
Herrgottswinkel
2008
Acrylic on canvas
220 x 180 cm |
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Eckart Hahn: Not really. I only have two or three friends who are artists. I feel that there is too much narcissism among artists and I don't want to be in that atmosphere every day. I think that artists are often in competition with each other. The continuous discussion and criticizing of work is somehow tiring and it can hold back the creative process. When I'm not working I don't really want to talk about my work.
Art Interview: Did your family support you in your choice to become a professional artist?
Eckart Hahn: When I was young my mother worried a lot about my future. She was very concerned about how I would survive. But in spite of this, she let me go my own way and supported me in doing the things that I felt were right for me. She provided a great sense of moral support. I had initially adopted her concern about my security but I had to learn to stop worrying before I could take up a career as uncertain as painting.
Art Interview: What does your mother do?
Eckart Hahn: She's a psychoanalyst!
Art Interview: Your siblings are doctors and engineers. Had they already established their careers before you began yours?
Eckart Hahn: Yes, my brothers are respectively six and seven years older than me.
Art Interview: Did their career choices put pressure on you?
Eckart Hahn: I have always thought that you shouldn't compare yourself with other people. It may be motivational at times but on the whole it is pointless.
Art Interview: How did you begin to make money as a painter?
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Eckart Hahn
Camouflage
2003
Acrylic on canvas
90 x 90 cm
Private collection, Tübingen
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Eckart Hahn: The Hypo Bank supported an exhibition in Stuttgart which only art students were invited to participate in. I wasn't an art student but a friend of mine knew a member of the committee. He presented my work to them and they accepted it into the show.
On the day of the opening, I felt very intimidated by all the artists showing there. I thought that they must understand the art world much better than I did and I was starting to wonder why I was there at all. Then the exhibition opened and the guests arrived. A group of collectors came and were looking at all of the art. When they got to my booth they stopped and bought everything. I was amazed. The students were bowled over and couldn't believe that I could have such a success without ever having studied.
That was when I realized it would be possible for me to make money from painting. It gave me the confidence to start working as an artist professionally.
Art Interview: How did your style develop?
Eckart Hahn: My work has developed and defined itself much further since those early days. Many things have influenced me including my intuitive processes, my daily life and the media. The core of my work however is based on how I view life. There were a lot of serious illnesses in my family and my father died when I was seven-years-old. As a child I learned that death was a reality and both success and failure are part of life.
Art Interview: Your paintings appear very pleasant at first glance, but after studying them for a while you notice a very serious, dark tone to them. How did this develop?
Eckart Hahn: Life has both good and bad sides to it and they are both reflected in my work.
Art Interview: How did you pull the various influences from your life together into the strong voice that you have today?
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Eckart Hahn
Pas de deux
2008
Acrylic on canvas
160 x 150 cm
Private collection, Berlin
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Eckart Hahn: When I started painting, I always thought that I had to have a recognizable style. But I'm not interested in having one subject matter that people can look at and say, "Oh, that's an Eckart Hahn". I don't want to constantly repeat myself. I have made a couple of works with a half human - half stag creature, but I don't want to make a considered choice to paint a set amount of those figures. Instead I shift through the different impressions that I collect in my mind and over time they combine to form new paintings. My style is very internalized. It is an attempt to illustrate my inner voice. I admire artists like the Chapman Brothers because their works have a dark power to them. It is like being hit in the face. But I don't want to make loud statements like they do. The dark elements that I paint are quite but they have a steady pressure to them and they are undeniably present.
I intentionally put a lot of deep meaning into my work but it may not be obvious at first sight. The emotions that comprise meaning in my work are complex and I personally take a long time to deal with complex emotional issues. Each of us has things from the past that we haven't dealt with and these emotions filter into the present.
Art Interview: Would you say your paintings are autobiographical because they reveal something private about yourself?
Eckart Hahn: No, I wouldn't say so. I think that my work is about something much bigger than myself. When my daughter was born a psychologist told us that dealing with the problems of her severe rheumatoid arthritis and scoliosis would make us understand more about the world. But I told him that that wasn't true. I don't need a problem like my daughter's illness to comprehend life at a deeper level. Everything always makes sense at some level, even bad things, but things don't have to make sense in an obvious way. When I was a child I thought that if you looked at things closely enough, you could understand them and find a rational explanation for everything. As an adult I realize that this is not true, nor is it necessary. You don't need to understand everything in a rational way.
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Eckart Hahn
Pony Show
2007
Acrylic on canvas
160 x 210 cm
Private collection, Miami
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Art Interview: How does your daughter's illness affect your work and schedule?
Eckart Hahn: Fortunately since I am self-employed I can be flexible. I prefer to work regularly and intensely. I work like this because I know that time is precious and I've worked very hard to be in a position to work as a painter. I have a real appreciation of my situation now. It inspires me to work in a concentrated way. I am also very good at working under pressure and I think that this is an important condition.
Art Interview: Do you paint on weekends?
Eckart Hahn: Normally I don't paint on weekends because I want to spend time with my family. I don't want my career to take over my life completely.
Art Interview: Do you have assistants working with you?
Eckart Hahn: I don't have any assistants. The galleries do most of the presswork and they are keeping contact to the collectors and institutions but I think part of my success is due to the fact that I take an active role in my professional growth.
Art Interview: How many paintings do you produce in a year?
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Eckart Hahn
Stilles Dorf
2004
Acrylic on canvas
90 x 200 cm
Private collection, Stuttgart
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Eckart Hahn: About 30.
Art Interview: What materials do you use?
Eckart Hahn: I was using oils when I started working. But I quickly realized that I prefer to work on one painting at a time and focus my energy on that single idea. Oil paint required me to swap between pieces while the paintings dried, so I decided to change to acrylics. I work with a lot of thin layers to create a sensual surface to my paintings. I'll often paint up to 30 layers using sponges and rollers. My intention is not to achieve technically perfect work but I try with this laborious process to give the works a sensual aspect, which adds to the intellectual impact.
Art Interview: What sizes do they average?
Eckart Hahn: In general my paintings are 1 x 1.30 meters, but they can vary a lot. Sometimes I produce larger paintings that are 2 x 2.5 meters and this takes about one month to complete because I'll usually paint two smaller ones at the same time. But I don't really have strict rules about sizes that I use.
Art Interview: Do you find it easier to sell smaller work?
Eckart Hahn: I don't have a problem in that area. At the moment I am selling almost everything that I produce, but I'm still uncertain what the future will bring. The art market is very volatile, so who knows?
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| Eckart Hahn Fund, 2005, India ink on papyrus, 27 x 110 cm, Private collection, Luxembourg |
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Art Interview: You started your career by exhibiting in New York instead of showing in Germany. How did that come about?
This oral history transcript is the result of a digitally recorded interview with Eckart Hahn on May 6, 2008. The interview took place over the telephone between Berlin and Reutlingen, Germany and was conducted by Brendan Davis for Art Interview Online Magazine. |
