The work of artist Henry Haas is being shown at the train station. The work includes, ‘Brothers in the Crosshairs of History.’
About two dozen acrylic paintings by Henry Haas are currently being exhibited at the Ridgewood Avenue train station. There is much ambiguity in the show which, to this reviewer, became apparent by accident.
Most of the brightly colored paintings have bird silhouettes, single peering eyes, fiery planetary orbs and palm prints, variously colored. None are given any three-dimensional form. In fact, throughout the exhibit, form is not explored and there is no sense of a lighting source. These were mysterious composites to figure. But tucked away in a corner and easily overlooked were four paintings, one which provided direction.
In this cranny was “All Flights Cancelled.” Seven bird silhouettes have what appears to be bullet wounds or stigmatas. But the birds continue to fly! So, perhaps the eyes and handprints suggest a collective guilt of humanity for the destruction of a fragile ecosystem? Is there something here about saving the planet going on? What’s the big idea?
But the all birds silhouetted in the show are generic, rubber stamped, as it were. Not one had a raptor’s curved beak. There was no consideration for possibility. OK, that’s fine. I can take my angst straight up. But still I wish some of the birds were more identifiable, a little more nuanced. Then I could think this was about the plight of our planet or if nothing so high-minded, at least some thought of the idea behind the work.
Pop Art produced repetitive images of icons or comic book characters or news photographs. It was a derivative art based on America’s suffocating consumerism. This exhibit also shows the influence of pop imagery and there is the warning of suffocation. But what influences the paintings in this show?
There is no escaping the warnings of danger in some of the works, especially in “Escape Velocity.” It is a painting of crevices and within these cracks, trees are about to combust or they are the skeletons of trees already charred.
The exhibit’s sense of the end of the world is reinforced with three paintings: Apocalypse Nos. 1, 2 and 3, subtitled respectively, “Fire in the Whole,” “Deer Burn” and “Fleeting Moment.”
“Cosmic Penguins,” Nos. 1 and 2, offer a respite from the show’s hellscape. In these, penguins soar through a watery outer space. Still, an eye, hand print and circle are evident. Why the artist is obsessed with these images would be interesting to learn. But in one painting, “The Fuse,” a palm print in the lower corner, the fingers did look like a group of people, but that, like other things in the show, wasn’t explored.
But most interestingly, there are two black and white, realistic paintings taken from photographs. One is of Picasso working and the other of a thoughtful Robert and John Kennedy quietly conversing. These are strong images of influential men and along with Cosmic Penguins, refreshing surprises.
Haas said in an interview that the exhibit is a small part of his work from the 1980s and the 2000s. His ‘80s work is represented with black and white realistic celebrity portraits from photographs. They include the Beatles, Jim Morrison, Nate King Cole and Marilyn Monroe, figures with whom Haas said he has an emotional attachment. His later paintings are more expressive and apocalyptic.
Haas is a retired head custodian at Glen Ridge High School from where he graduated in 1971. He explained the meaning of the recurring images in his recent paintings.
“I feel the birds are flight,” he said. “When I paint, I’m flying. The handprints represent the earliest art work of men in caves. The eyes, because I see through my art work.”
As for the planetary spheres, Haas said he was doing the hands and the birds, but felt there should be something else and told his brother, Michael, who also paints.
“He said he had started painting spheres,” Haas continued. “And I told him that was funny because I had just started painting spheres in my paintings. But my best answer is that I don’t know why.”
His current work is apocalyptic because, he said, he feels that countries are being run by madmen and people seem to be powerless to stop it.
“It’s not just the geo-political sphere, but also the ecology,” he said. “I’m an artist. I have young kids and have had a wonderful life. But I also want a life for my kids. For me, painting apocalyptic landscapes is therapy.”
An opening reception is scheduled for the exhibit on Sunday, Aug. 3, 3-6 p.m. The exhibit will run through this month and may possibly be extended into
September.
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