Monkey Business 2016

Curator: Eckart Hahn's painting, "Monkey Business" from 2016, confronts us with a powerful and perplexing image. The first things you notice? Editor: Utterly unsettling, right? It's hyper-real, almost like a photograph of something you simultaneously believe and disbelieve. The monkey’s eyes bore into you… it feels heavy with metaphor. Curator: Well, the materiality is striking. We see a mandrill perched atop what appears to be a painted animal skull, the paint styled like a national flag. Hahn's practice frequently merges hyperrealism with surreal elements. Considering the intense detail, I am drawn to the implied labor behind it. Editor: Right? You wonder, what did it take to render that fur with such exactitude? What’s the weight of the skull, both physically and symbolically? The draped flag suggests power, nationhood…but the skull mocks it. There’s something deeply cynical at play. It is kind of funny too though. Curator: And the use of realism to depict an unnatural scene further amplifies the artwork's meaning. The mandrill, often a symbol of social structures, is placed atop a symbol of mortality and, perhaps, fallen nationhood. Do you interpret the combination to highlight humanity's transient dominance over other species and lands? Editor: Absolutely. The monkey has that knowing gaze, like it’s surveying a world it will inherit. It also speaks, I think, to the business we do as humans on this planet, the games we play with power and resources, a "monkey business" that will one day come to an end. It gives me the shivers. Curator: Considering Hahn's earlier sculptural works and fascination with the artificiality of museums and cultural artifacts, perhaps the flag itself is part of this examination of cultural commodification? Editor: Yeah, it’s not just about geopolitics, but about the ways those narratives get packaged, consumed, and ultimately, discarded. Looking at it makes me feel uneasy. And strangely exhilarated, a reminder of how everything is borrowed, nothing is permanent. Curator: I’d agree with that assessment. "Monkey Business" forces us to question the stability of power, the arrogance of national pride, and the ultimate fate of our earthly endeavors. Editor: And maybe even to laugh a little nervously at ourselves. Definitely food for thought!