Eberhard Havekost - Biography

Looking at one of his paintings means work for the observer. Eberhard Havekost’s pieces are not as accessible as they might seem at first glance. The painter, born in 1967 in Dresden, plays with reception and the habits of seeing; he questions our concept of visual perception and reality and challenges the term authenticity. Havekost describes the painting on the campus as a surface that creates a space for interpretation for the observer. “The artist paints a picture, the viewer looks at it, communication takes place, a conversation at best. Everybody arrives at another conclusion though.” He told the newspaper ZEIT last year.

"Painting is a lie which is closer to the truth than photography."

Havekost, who is being associated with the Leipzig school, uses digital photographs, newspaper clippings and video stills as samples and manipulates them using his computer; he changes cuttings, colour or angle or removes the context for instance. He said that painting is a lie which is closer to the truth than photography.His pictures show scenes of daily life, usual things which became more and more abstract over the course of his period as a working artist. While his earlier work is still very figurative, he came closer and closer to his subjects over the years, thereby questioning society’s gullibility in and dependence on pictures. For him the painted picture is merely the beginning of the dialogue. If he really gets involved with the picture, the observer continues the artist’s work.

Eberhard Havekost - collections

Havekost had solo exhibitions in the art museum Luzern, the Schirn in Frankfurt, the Stedelijk museum in Amsterdam and the national art collection in Dresden, among others.  His work can be found in the collections of the Museums of Modern Art in New York, the Denver Museums and the collection Marx, in the Rubell Family Collection of the collection Frieder Burda and the Tate Collection.

 

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