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
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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.