Kalif 2015

Eckart Hahn, who was born in 1971, painted 'Kalif', and I’m really interested in the way this artist deploys their sense of humor. I wonder if Hahn started with the stork, that emblem of birth and new beginnings. I imagine him carefully rendering each feather, only to then ask himself: what if I put a golden bag on its head? This shiny, almost gaudy object brings a comedic and critical tension to the painting. It's like Hahn is asking, what do we value? What do we obscure? The gold bag, rendered with exquisite detail, takes on a life of its own, deflecting light in a way that competes with the stork’s natural beauty. It reminds me that painting can be so much more than just representation; it can be a form of visual poetry. Hahn's work reminds us that art is in perpetual conversation with itself, a constant push and pull between tradition and innovation, seriousness and play.