Eberhard Havekost

Eberhard Havekost’s paintings explore the tension between the painted surface and the “highly mediated image.” The artist manipulates recognizable subjects including building facades or leather couches, often rendered in the smooth anti-gestural quality of a Roy Lichtenstein or Ed Ruscha painting. Havekost also experiments with more ambient imagery reminiscent of a Mark Rothko color field image, but with softer transitions. All of his images, however, are born from photographic sources—television and videos, magazines, and his own pictures all serve as treasure troves for imagery. They are then modified, printed on inkjet, and recreated upon canvas that has been primed by six alternating layers of grey and white paint. The works maintain an otherworldly glow, where visual distortions and tight crops resemble the effects of a cinematic pan shot or an animated model. Employing improvisational adjustments throughout the painting process, the artist seeks emotional resonance and a revitalization of the circumstances in which his viewer might see these images.

Havekost has shown at various international institutions including Kunstverein, Potsdam, Germany, Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Austria, Autocenter, Berlin, Stedelijk Museum CS, Amsterdam, Katzen Arts Center, Washington D.C., Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Museu de Arte de Sao Paulo, Brazil, City Art Museum Helsinki, Finland, Saatchi Gallery, London, and Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, among others.