InkSpired Magazine Issue No. 36 | Page 8

The Art of Caleb Hahne CALEB HAHNE Words: Joseph Findeiss / Photography: Joseph Findeiss Stacks of books and vinyl litter the apartment floor alongside finished pieces and works in progress that adorn his desk. He describes it as an organized chaos, one which could evoke anxiety in most anyone but here. He feels calm. Focused. This is his ideal - waking up, sipping coffee in his shorts, headphones on, and jockeying between art, laundry, and spending time with his cat, Martin. To Caleb Hahne, it’s not about the space itself but how one adapts to the space. Hahne prefers to remain surrounded by his work, likening the closeness to that of a relationship with a girlfriend. This relationship involves drawing hands ad nauseum; they are an extension of our ability to convey emotions through gestures to others; affection, love, protection, anger, and pain are basics. Our hands are capable of destruction and creation, creating an alluring juxtaposition for Hahne. Art as a philosophy of endurance and perseverance and reflects one’s emotional identity and intimacy within the craft is admirable in theory but rare to find in practice. Hahne regards his artwork as an ever e ­ volving journey that is not necessarily about the finished product as much as the process in which he has arrived to it. With every individual piece, Hanhe spends time simply being with the work, conversing with it, being intimate with the work and falling in love with it. Hahne holds “conversations with ghosts,” imagined dialogues in which the artist invokes individuals responsible for his inspiration, individuals living or deceased. He holds to a tenet that entails once he has completed and exhibits the work, he considers it no longer belonging to him but to his audience and to the world. He is a one man army, composing and responding to emails, creating invoices, accounting, promotional work, framing, crating, and shipping his art. Hahne is no stranger to 6 InkSpiredMagazine.com rejection and passion doesn’t pay the bills. You gotta hustle. Hahne grew up with love for skateboarding and graffiti, which he developed a lasting relationship. These disciplines became second nature to him, an involuntary muscle, much like illustrating now, a meditative practice: comforting, focusing, centering. As a student, Hahne used to think intensely about a drawing before he would put ink to paper, but has developed better conversations with himself; a prerequisite for production. Abandoning art school methods and jargon, he listens to his instincts, disobeys the classical rules of aesthetics and portrays emotional content vividly on paper. Hahne’s current aesthetic was originally a “fuck you” to the French Academy, against the formulaic and drab approach to teaching the same methods to each student, a factory pumping out banality. Interested in becoming a collage artist, he picked up Seven Dada Manifestos and Lampisteries by Tristan Tzara, and adopted the book as his own manifesto. Hahne began deconstructing drawings of the sculptures into collages. Questioning what the collages would look like if there were redrawn. Hahne did so, tore the drawings in half, and poured acetone on them, essentially melting the drawing as if he were crossing them out with a giant red “X”. Hahne feels safe in his hometown. And why shouldn’t he? He’s able to contribute to and be a figure in the burgeoning art scene alongside a community of supportive creatives including Jaime Molina, Mario Zoots, and Molly Bounds. Recently, large scale pieces and collaborative work, occupy his energies. Recently, Hahne completed a mural he attributes as an ode to Jesus Cuesta, a graffiti artist from Spain. He also collaborated on a mural with Anthony Garcia, Sr., where the two artists pieced together a fractured mural where Hahne filled in the cracks with his trademark busts. Hahne has enjoyed collaborating with other artists as it has promoted growth and diversity in the approach to his own work. It has taught him to diverge from a linear pattern of approach but rather consider it more of a constellation, working on separate points that connect to become a whole. Leaving more up to chance also allows him to be himself; the art feels less contrived and more honest, leaving the pressures of consistency behind. Illustration provides a necessary outlet for deciphering and communicating the spectrum of emotion spawned by turbulent events throughout life. Which leaves Hahne feeling vulnerable in the eyes of his colleagues and would-­be critics. His work following the death of his beloved grandfather has been dichotomous, combining Hahne’s fluid, delicate drawings of classic sculpture with a heavy black elements seeping and dripping into the page. Deliberate coarse brushstrokes evoke violence and catastrophe. Hahne describes it as literally and emotionally some of the most expressive, darkest and most mature work done to date, and received as “fighting off the darkness.” However, Hahne is mostly reserved about elaborating on his work. Art, in some form, should remain a mystery. Explaining and dissecting art is like an overplayed song or an overwatched movie, the allure is gone. “I like the things that make the least amount of sense, when I walk by, I’m like, ‘what the fuck am I looking at?’ It evokes something inside, I want to touch it, I want to lick it, to smell it,” he ends. For more of the artist’s work, visit: www.calebhahne.com.