Roter Faden 2019

Eckart Hahn made this painting, Roter Faden, and it’s wild! A tiger, so realistically rendered you could almost feel the fur, pierced with a thick red rope. I can only imagine Hahn, brush in hand, circling this canvas, adding layer upon layer to create this surreal beast. It’s like he’s asking, what does it mean to connect, to be bound? The tiger, a symbol of power, is literally tied down, the rope threading through its body like a strange, external nervous system. That red! It’s so bold, so insistent against the tiger's muted palette, turning the animal into a kind of strange Frankensteinian spectacle. It reminds me of some of Philip Guston’s later work where he was making these intentionally awkward paintings that dealt with some serious stuff. Hahn has a similar thing going on, taking on representation, only to tie it up, and expose the absurdity of it all. Artists are always in conversation, after all.