Kunstneren
Antonio Hase
Antonio Hase ble født i 1963 i det vestlige Bosnia med etternavnet Draganović. Han kom til Hamburg i 1984, bodde deretter i Luzern, og har siden levd og arbeidet i München. En påfallende allsidig kunstner — maler, romanforfatter, manusforfatter, skuespiller og regissør — har han viet mer enn førti år til billedkunsten.
Han har deltatt på gruppeutstillinger siden 1985 og hatt separatutstillinger siden 1986 — så langt ti i alt. Verkene hans finnes i private samlinger i Tyskland, Sveits, Canada, Kroatia og USA. Som kroatisk-tysk maler har han de siste årene fått stadig bredere internasjonal anerkjennelse.
Maleriet hans er rotfestet i abstraksjonen — et valg som tok form på midten av 1980-tallet gjennom vennskapet med Vlado Kristl, som førte ham inn i abstraksjonens verden og introduserte ham for den store tyske informel-maleren Emil Schumacher. Gjennom fire tiår med arbeid, fra konstruktivisme til dekonstruktivisme, har han etablert seg som pioner for dekonstruktivismen i maleriet.
Inspirations and dedications – Emil Schumacher, Vlado Kristl and Antonio Hase
"The motif of my painting is always a dedication to Schumacher and Kristl."
Antonio Hase's artistic path was shaped by encounters with great names of world art. As early as the eighties, his friend Vlado Kristl introduced him to the German painter Emil Schumacher. That meeting left a deep mark on Hase, awakening a profound bond with abstract expression to which he has remained faithful ever since.
At that meeting Hase promised Schumacher that he would follow his path and devote himself to abstraction. Although both Schumacher and Kristl have since passed away, their presence lives on strongly in Hase's work. He turned their legacy into one of his significant works – a painting with the motif of a monument and an urn as a symbolic dedication to Schumacher, while scattered flower petals fall onto the urn in memory of Vlado Kristl.
Hase explains that the petals of Kristl's flowers also carry a personal meaning – they stand for the moment Kristl introduced him to Schumacher. The painting was exhibited and drew great interest, although at the time the artist had no chance to speak about its meaning in detail. Today he wants to share that story and show the deeply personal dimension of his work.
With these works Antonio Hase not only keeps the memory of his friends and mentors alive, but shows that art can be a bridge between generations and a lasting message of gratitude.
