Necklace 2019

Eckart Hahn created this striking painting, titled "Necklace," featuring a gorilla against a vivid red background. The contrast of the gorilla's dark fur against the bright backdrop immediately captures the eye, as does the thick, yellow rope encircling the gorilla's neck. The composition is deceptively simple, yet the interplay of color and texture evokes complex feelings. The artist's choice of a vibrant, almost unsettling red, is offset by the blackness of the gorilla. The yellow rope introduces another layer, its coarseness contrasting with the smooth rendering of the animal's form. The painting's semiotic force lies in the unsettling juxtaposition of the wild and the domesticated. The rope, a symbol of constraint and control, paradoxically adorns a creature emblematic of untamed power. The composition and color choices invite viewers to question established categories of nature and culture, suggesting a fluid and evolving discourse. "Necklace" prompts ongoing interpretations of power, freedom, and the human-animal relationship.