Paradies II 2019

Eckart Hahn made this intriguing painting, Paradies II, which sets up a dialogue between naturalistic renderings of bright yellow birds against a decorative, almost antiquated, wallpaper backdrop. I can only imagine what Hahn was thinking while making it. It feels like he’s after a particular kind of resonance or visual harmony. Note how he alternates between the flat decorative plane of flowers and the birds which are rendered in luminous detail, each set within stark geometric shapes. The contrast makes the birds feel like emissaries from another dimension. That geometric composition is, for me, where the painting takes off. The use of hard-edged abstraction contrasts with the naturalism in unexpected ways. It makes me think of other artists who have blended representation and abstraction into the same plane. Ultimately, this artwork inspires me, because it makes me think about the push and pull between intention and accident, control and chaos, that defines a painter's process.