Eberhard Havekost

Eberhard Havekost (1967, Dresden, Germany - 2019, Berlin, Germany) studied at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden between 1991 and 1996, including with Professor Ralf Kerbach in the painting and graphic arts class. He taught painting at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany, between 2010 and 2019. 

Hakevost belongs to a new generation of painters who used digital and multimedia language as a starting point to fabricate the images of their painting, making use of a selection of various sources from television and video, magazines and photographs. From his archive, Havekost would edit the original images on a computer, subtly altering the colours and slightly stretching or distorting the shapes, and then translate this through the painting process. His paintings of human bodies and faces, urban and suburban architecture and various types of motor vehicle feature unsettling shadows and colours, as well as the unexpected cropping of the image and the position of the volumes, which alter the viewer's perception of the referent. 

His solo exhibitions included Endless, Brandenburgischer Kunstverein, Potsdam, Germany (2012); Eberhard Havekost - Sightseeing Trip, Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai, India (2012); Eberhard Havekost, Sammmlung MAP- Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Austria (2012); Sightseeing Trip, Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademi, Durbar Hall Art Gallery, Ernakulam/Kochi, Kerala, India (2012); Ausstellung, Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Germany (2010); Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, FL, and Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, Florida, USA (2007); Harmony 2: Schilderijen 1997 - 2005, Stedelijk Museum CS, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2006); Eberhard Havekost: 1996-2006 Paintings from the Rubell Family Collection, American University Museum, Katzen Arts Center, Washington, USA (2006); Lieu d' Art Contemporain, Sigean Centre d'Art Contemporain, France (2003); Driver, Serralves Museum, Porto, Portugal (2001); and Druck, Galerie für Zeitgenossische Kunst Leipzig, Germany (1999). In the last two years, two galleries have held exhibitions in memory of the artist: Paintings 1998-2015, at the Roberts Projects Gallery, Los Angeles (2024), and Paintings 1998-2016, at the Anton Kern Gallery, New York (2023).

Pedro Sequeira