Eberhard HavekostU Say Love

At first glance it is discontinuity that determines Eberhard Havekost’s work. In their feeling for realism, some of the most recent paintings from the years 2017–2019 are all but perfect. The kangaroo on the cover fixes the viewer with its gaze; it appears dazzled by the glaring light, possibly by the headlamp of a car. Its body seems frozen, its posture an anticipation of rigor mortis. Other pictures are abstract, combining dynamic and gestural brushstrokes with the scraping away of paint. In others still, colours such as a luminous orange, lemon yellow or scarlet are smeared into one another, suggesting a haze of smoke. Then again a sulphurous green appears almost uniform and thus a little yellowish, as though it were etching its way through the canvas, acrid, stifling and caustic. The process of painting becomes chemical when Eberhard Havekost removes layer upon layer of paint with turpentine, liquefying it once more so that it appears to dissolve. In this way Eberhard Havekost’s pictures go further than reality. They revolve around the dissolution of the object, for what concerns him in his work is reconstruction: seeing something and building it up again. The picture, however, remains flat; it is not merely imagination but remains an object, is soft and can thus be charged with a variety of meanings.

Exhibition:
CFA Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin, 26/4 – 1/6/2019