Sebastian Haas (*1992, works and lives in Bern) His work ‘total’ is a series of paintings behind glass - i.e. paintings on the reverse side of glass panes. The artist uses oil and spray paint to create images of reduced colour and is deliberately légère in his work method. Here, the glass surface flattens the different layers of paint, and the paintings attract me with their reflecting surface. At first glance, the compositions seem abstract, but on closer inspection I begin to see architectural elements, figurative forms or seemingly organic shapes in the black, gray and white areas. Sebastian Haas is interested in the ambivalence between abstraction and figuration. He experiments with a reduced mode of representation in which the observer, in an element of surprise, recognizes concrete things. The artist is interested in stage-like settings, perceived through the visible horizon created in the paintings.

Result #1

Sebastian Haas (*1992, works and lives in Bern) His work ‘total’ is a series of paintings behind glass - i.e. paintings on the reverse side of glass panes. The artist uses oil and spray paint to create images of reduced colour and is deliberately légère in his work method. Here, the glass surface flattens the different layers of paint, and the paintings attract me with their reflecting surface. At first glance, the compositions seem abstract, but on closer inspection I begin to see architectural elements, figurative forms or seemingly organic shapes in the black, gray and white areas. Sebastian Haas is interested in the ambivalence between abstraction and figuration. He experiments with a reduced mode of representation in which the observer, in an element of surprise, recognizes concrete things. The artist is interested in stage-like settings, perceived through the visible horizon created in the paintings.The color is used to create a setting of relations between the forms and the materials. Thus, the painted lines, for example, are not a close-up of the body but a portion of an object whose world is known; they are made of canvas. The painting seems a kind of window to the outside of the painting. The viewer is called upon to recognize the object as a form.The imagery is so diluted as to be almost a metaphor for the artist and the painter. The viewer, at the same time, has to recognize the objects as paint. The form is repeated throughout the painting, and, in the most of the pieces, this is an image of the artist. The artist has painted himself, and the viewer has to recognize the image as one of his, presumably innocent works.The artist often uses a variety of techniques to emphasize his color and to give the images a sense of weightlessness. In a piece entitled Untitled, 1994, the artist has covered the canvas with white spray paint and has placed it on a table; in this way, the image is not merely a reflection on the white but also on the fact that the white paint is overpainting, implying that the image is a piece of thin air. In another piece, called Untitled, 1994, the artist has covered the canvas with white spray paint and has placed it on a table, which is then covered by a mirror; the image is no longer a reflection on the white, but a small mirror that reflects the image back onto the white canvas. The white paint is then removed, and the reflection is no longer a reflection on the surface of the painting, but a reflection on the spectator.The viewer has to look carefully at this mirror image of the self-reflexivity of the self, which becomes a part of the work itself. The mirror image is a symbol of the artist, but the reflection also reveals the real reflection of the artist on the painting.

Result #2

Sebastian Haas (*1992, works and lives in Bern) His work ‘total’ is a series of paintings behind glass - i.e. paintings on the reverse side of glass panes. The artist uses oil and spray paint to create images of reduced colour and is deliberately légère in his work method. Here, the glass surface flattens the different layers of paint, and the paintings attract me with their reflecting surface. At first glance, the compositions seem abstract, but on closer inspection I begin to see architectural elements, figurative forms or seemingly organic shapes in the black, gray and white areas. Sebastian Haas is interested in the ambivalence between abstraction and figuration. He experiments with a reduced mode of representation in which the observer, in an element of surprise, recognizes concrete things. The artist is interested in stage-like settings, perceived through the visible horizon created in the paintings. He also places the viewer in the role of the protagonist in a series of ambiguous situations, involving the use of gestures and the manipulation of the viewer. The paintings are invariably about the presence of the artists hand.Although the majority of his paintings are divided into two groups: a group of works in black and white and a group of works in green and gray, a similar approach to color is used in all the paintings. In the former group, the images are applied to the surface of the canvas from a distance of some distance. The canvases are the basis for the canvas; the artist builds up the surface with spray paint, using brushes that are pointed at the paint. He paints the image on the canvas, using a metal brush and a palette knife. This results in an acrylic color which, after being mixed, remains a strong, colorless substance.The black paintings are the most frequently used. They consist of a linear, black-colored image on a white background. The image, like the background, is at once a pure image and an expression of the artists hand. This black is an idealized image which is the result of a series of carefully and continuously applied gestures. The artist applies the paint as a matter of course. The images are painted on the canvas, creating the illusion of an image on a canvas. The large gray paintings, made of white acrylic and black spray paint, are also the most successful. They are less aggressive than the black paintings, and use a less dramatic but no less expressive technique. Here the imagery is transferred from the image to the canvas, through a process of layering. The palette knife is used to cut the paint, causing a thin layer of spray paint to be left behind. The image is transferred from the image to the canvas, through a process of layering.The large black paintings, however, are the most challenging. They are the most difficult paintings to look at because they are so intensely felt.

Result #3

Sebastian Haas (*1992, works and lives in Bern) His work ‘total’ is a series of paintings behind glass - i.e. paintings on the reverse side of glass panes. The artist uses oil and spray paint to create images of reduced colour and is deliberately légère in his work method. Here, the glass surface flattens the different layers of paint, and the paintings attract me with their reflecting surface. At first glance, the compositions seem abstract, but on closer inspection I begin to see architectural elements, figurative forms or seemingly organic shapes in the black, gray and white areas. Sebastian Haas is interested in the ambivalence between abstraction and figuration. He experiments with a reduced mode of representation in which the observer, in an element of surprise, recognizes concrete things. The artist is interested in stage-like settings, perceived through the visible horizon created in the paintings. Here the stasis of the forms is broken by a sudden movement of the painted surfaces. In some works, the diagonal lines of the canvases become the bodies of the figures, while in others, the lines appear as large, fresh, fruitlike, not-fruit-like fruit or a soft, leafy element.The show was organized as a group of seven works—each an individually-sized sheet of paper with a number from one to eight. Haas also has a series of nine small paintings, one of which consists of the following: a map of Italy, a map of Syria, a map of the United States, a map of the United Kingdom, a map of the United States, a map of the whole of Europe, a map of the entire country, and so on. The artist also uses the image of a particular country to represent this country in another country, for example, a country in the U.S.A. which has a small population of U.S. citizens.The maps are a visual map of the U.S.A., the entire world, a map of the world, a map of the U.S.A., and so on. In the maps, the states are organized on the basis of their respective populations. But, on a map, the states are not contiguous. They can be regarded as discrete or as a series of signs in relation to a state. It is important to note that the maps are not the products of any survey; rather, they are a projection of the artists own works. The artists are not responsible for the accuracy of the projections. They simply use the map as a point of departure. The projection of the maps is a result of the artists participation.The artist uses the same technique to create a map of Italy. In this map, the states are separated by a line, a line that starts from the top of the map at Naples and ends at Rome.

Result #4

the context is the canvas on which he/she is looking at the paintings. the canvas is a painted surface and the viewer is invited to discover the central image by the perspective of his/her head. The work seems to be about the loss of the original, the sense of painting as a sacred thing in which the eye is permitted to be lost in a context which has vanished. The artist is a sort of divine painter, for he gives the viewer a sense of seeing through the real surface of the canvas.

Result #5

His figures are often variously dressed in the clothes of the musicians, the dancer or the painter, the captioned, the splashed or the painted on canvas. The stylistic elements are all over the place, including a humorist narrator, a skeleton, an image of a fish, an area of a hand, and the figures with a huge V in their mouths.The images are painted in a broad and imprecise style with a certain coloristic and illustrative quality. The artist uses a precise brushwork and an incredible range of colors. In many of the paintings the artist has simply made a cutout image of the scene he wishes to depict,e.g. a childrens picture book. The cutouts are often shown in pairs and the frames are framed by the cutouts. Moreover, the images are usually shown in their various forms, as in an illustration or a drawing. Although the paintings are not intended as strictly reproducible, a large part of the realism is still necessary in order for the viewer to be able to see the figures. The paintings are not simply about painting as a means of capturing the moment in the day, but rather about painting as a means of revealing the uncertainty of a moment.