1965                 Born in Berlin, Germany; lives and works in Berlin today
since 1988        Occupied with the art of painting; freelance work
2003                 Co-founder of printery K-02 in Berlin
2004                 Receives Special Award of the 3rd Lessedra World Art Print Annual
2005 – 2007      Organizing and guiding painting tours and workshops for own gallery and

various academies

since 2006        Member of bbk Berlin
since 2008        Concentration on drawing art

AWARDS / PRIZES

2004     Special Award of the 3rd Lessedra World Art Print Annual
2006     Finalist of the Köpenick Art Prize
2008     Promotion Award of ZEIGDEINEKUNST, a project of Gallery Richter & Masset,

Munich

COLLECTIONS / SALES (selected)

Graphothek Berlin, Reinickendorf

Hahnemühle FineArt

Palau Sa Font, Palma de Mallorca

Schloss Biesdorf, Berlin
Numerous private sales in Germany, Austria and USA

MOTIVATION

For me, authenticity is the most important aspect of a piece of art. Each painting I create I can only create once in my life, guided by the knowledge and ability of that particular moment. I would not be able to paint a picture of the same kind again next month, nor could I have painted it a year ago.

 

I like searching for topics and themes and working on those self-chosen topics for a stretch of time lasting to approximately one year. Working with acrylics, I put several layers of painting onto one another – which may leave some areas translucent and others pasty. Not only the surfaces, but the lines are important to me in a painting. It is the decisiveness of each line which determines both the quality of the painting and the impression it creates. Over and over again, the topic in question inspires new ideas in me. Meanwhile, what I paint has to be experienced either by myself or detected in others. It is only then, that my inner self may create both the atmosphere of and the associations within my paintings. I tend to paint with a lot of joy, pleasure and energy, hoping that my works will provoke the alert eye, arouse feelings or, at best, give food for thought.

Perhaps the most difficult aspect of my work is discipline. Consider, for example, the discipline it takes to express one particular topic within the limits of one particular format. The most difficult question seems to be: when do I finish the painting, and when does it still need changes? Often I would leave the pictures up on the easel for months, reconsidering every detail. Is there too much movement in the painting, or too little? Not before I am truly happy with every aspect of the work do I sign it.

 

Acrylic, discovered as a painting material in the 1950s, is the material of today. It is pure plastic, and therefore perfectly reflects our modern, fast-moving times. Nevertheless, I do not wish to waste the material or use it in careless ways just to dazzle with the size of a picture. Rather, I compose each of my paintings with some consideration.

 

Drawings are an additional area of my work. It is in drawings – in the single line even – that the handwriting of an artist is best expressed. No line in the drawing serves as pure decoration, each line is meaningful and particularly legitimate. I draw each day. This is why I have given up on entitling my drawings. I catalogue them according to the date of origin. Along this decision it became clear to me that my drawings really are diary entries.

 

I paint because I cannot think of living without. Art is like an extra sense organ for me and enables me to express both myself and my personal exchange with what is surrounding me.

 

The Schweriner Volkszeitung wrote about me:

 

Painter Susanne Haun Presents Views for Thought

 

Schelfstadt (bert) Susanne Haun’s paintings are somewhat disquietening. Neither comfortable nor becalming, they reflect her personal views of her environment. As an artist, she concentrates on the message she equips each picture with rather than on detailed realism or resemblance. The present exhibition “The Way – The Five Stages in Women’s Life” at the Bohlenbinderhaus, situated at the back of the Schleswig-Holstein-Haus, is making this very clear.

 

The process of defining woman’s role in society has been in full swing. It is this debate Susanne Haun engages herself in. “Through the exchange with the audience I feel obliged to contribute to the ongoing discussion,” she says. However, the artist from Berlin emphasizes that she does not consider herself a feminist or an activist for women’s rights in the usual sense. But she wishes for more respect of the sexes in dealing with each other and for more acknowledgement, considering the different yet equally important achievements of both.

 

Susanne Haun paints with powerful colours and forceful expression. Her large painting “The Way – The Five Stages in Women’s Life”, measuring two meters in width and four-and-a-half meters in length, whose title was chosen for the Schwerin exibition, certainly does not fall into the category of “beautiful paintings”. What is does, though, is inspire discussion. It takes up the challenge, the painter says.

 

In 2007, the Gransee Zeitung in Brandenburg wrote about me:

 

The Strength of Metamorphosis

 

New Paintings Exhibited at the Klosterscheune

 

Susanne Haun stands in the middle of the big hall of the Cloister’s Gallery and looks petite. Hard to believe that it was she who painted the powerful pictures brought together in an exhibition opened last Sunday at the Klosterscheune.

 

The colours are intense and have been put on the canvas with a sweeping zest. They threaten to explode and carry the beholder away. Incorporating life and emotion, they are counterbalanced by lines, banning the moment with the lightness of a bird’s feather, only to quickly fly again into new states of being, into a different life.   

It might look random, and yet is has the compellingness of the cruel yet achingly beautiful necessity of transformation. Like running water, the experience of every-day life and the seemingly banal find their way into human faces, states of the soul which are intense both in their artistic concentration and in the knowledge that everything must pass. All becomes and dies. And so a flower becomes a butterfly, a bird, a tree, a man and a flower again.

 

“Pictor’s Transformation”, a novel by Hermann Hesse, has inspired the artist’s marvellous drawings, sketched with ink on wild silk paper. Love and the longing for happiness transform Pictor into a tree which grows very old. By fusing with a human being who responds to his feelings, the tree finally finds true paradise. Life loves the tree -- just like the confusing, dispersing and finally intertwining lines love each other on the papers of Susanne Haun.

 

EXHIBITIONS

2008     Galerie Berger, Schwerin (G)

Kunstverein Johann Kentmann, Torgau (E)

Galerie OstArt, Berlin (E)

Galerie Art & Champagne, Berlin (G)

Art Fair Munic, represented Gallery Blaeser

Galerie K-02 (G)

2007     Städtische Galerie Süd, Magdeburg 11.1.- 12.2.2007 (E)

Klostergalerie Zehdenick, 18.3. – 5.5.2007 (E)

Schleswig-Holstein-Haus, 26.4. – (E)

Stadtmuseum Weiden / Galerie Egeter  1.-28.6.2007 (G)

Klosterkirche Grimma bei Leipzig 29.6. -20.7.2007 (G)

Galerie Elbchaussee acht, Hamburg, Juli 2007 (G)

Kunstmesse Salzburg 2007, 8. – 11.November 2007

Galerie Büsch, Berlin, 16.11-31.12.2007 (G)

Sammlung Palau Sa Font, Mallorca, 23.11.-31.12.2007 (G)

Technopark Kamen, 28.11.-31.12.2007 (G)

2006     German House Gallery, 871 United Nations Plaza, New York, USA, 21.2.-10.3.2006,

catalogue (G)

Graphothek Berlin, Vorstellung der Neuzugänge, 7.4. – 13.5.2006 (G)

Galerie Wollhalle, Güstrow, ab 5.5.2006 (by decision of the jury) (G)

Kunstgalerie Altes Rathaus Fürstenwalde, 5.5. – 30.9.2006 (by decision of the jury) (G)

Galerie Storchenturm, Berlin, 19. – 26.5.2006 (E)

Galerie Kunstkreis Treptow - Köpenick e.V., ab 14.7.2006 (G)

Friedrich Naumann Stiftung, Potsdam, 15.6.-31.7.2006 (G)

Participation in the 7th Kunstkreuz Berlin, 23.06. bis 21.07.2006 (by decision of the jury) (G)

Galerie Friedländer Tor, Neubrandenburg, 1.7.-10.9.2006 (G)

Galerie „unterwegs“, Berlin, 28.7. – 28.8.2006 (E)

MKC Templin, 19.8.-24.9.2006 (by decision of the jury) (G)

Galerie Carstensen, Hamburg, 16.9. – 31.10.2006 (G)

Galerie Pillango, Berlin, 22. – 29.9.2006 (G)

Sperlgalerie, Potsdam, 4.11.-23.12.2006 (G)

Wasserturm Visselhövede, 9.9. – 18.10.2006 (G)

Art&Champagne Galerie, Berlin, 10.11.-21.12.2006 (E)

Galerie Stine, Bützow, 5.11. - 15.12.06 (E)

 

2005     Galerie Storkower Bogen, Berlin (G)

National Palace of Culture, Sofia, Bulgaria, catalogue (G)

18. Deutsch-Niederländische Grafikbörse Borken (by decision of the  jury) (G)

Galerie WeibArt, Berlin (E)

Galerie Storchenturm, Berlin (G)

Klosterkirche Grimma (bei Leipzig) (G)

Olympiastadion Berlin, VIP Lounge (G)

Schlossparktheater, Berlin (E)

Sternwarte Schwerin (G)

Galerie Kass, Innsbruck, Austria (G)

Auktion Nr. 1, Förderverein Künstlergut Prösitz, Mutzschen (near Leipzig and Dresden) (G)

Große Berlin-Steglitzer Kunstausstellung (by decision of the jury), catalogue (G)

Galerie Zeitlos, Bergkamen (E)

Kulturhaus Spandau, Berlin (E)

Oschatzer Kunstverein (near Leipzig) (G)

Galerie Benkert 16, Potsdam (G)

Galerie ArtRoom, Dusseldorf (G)

 

2004     Impulse International, Osnabrück (by decision of the jury), catalogue (G)

Maritim proArte, Berlin (E)

Museum der Arbeit, Hamburg, DruckKunst, catalogue (G)

Galerie Arcus, Berlin (G)

National Palace of Culture, Sofia, Bulgaria, catalogue (G)

Art Auction, Galerie Mutter Fourage, 40 Years unicef Berlin (G)

Galerie Pillango, Berlin (G)

Schloss Biesdorf, Berlin (E)

Galerie Storkower Bogen, Berlin (G)

Art Auction at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig (G)

Frauenmuseum Bonn (by decision of the jury), catalogue (G)

Galerie Taube, Berlin, Dezembersalon (G)

 

 

2003       Kunst im Fort Gorgast, Frankfurt Oder, catalogue (G)

Werk 4, Neustadt a.d. WN, Bavaria (G)

Kunstamt Mitte Berlin, Teehaus im Englischen Garten (E)

Opera Leipzig (by decision of the jury) (G)

ARD/RBB, Hotel am Studio, Berlin (G)

Galerie Victoria Passage, Augsburg (G)

 

2002     Aktiv-Galerie, Berlin (E)
Kunstzentrum Tegel-Süd (G)

ART FAIRS

2004     Druckkunst, Museum für Arbeit, Hamburg

2007     Salzburg Art Fair

2008     Art Fair Munic, represented by Galerie Blaeser





BIBLIOGRAPHY

2008

 

 “Gallery Berger zeigt Blickpunkte“, Ludwigsluster Tageszeitung

 

2007

     
Andreas Rücker, “Die Rotznasen sind gewollt“, Leipziger Volkszeitung

“Farbige Zusammenhänge“, Leipziger Volkszeitung

Anastasia Poscharsky “Eindrücke künstlerisch eingefangen“, Der neue Tag in Weiden

“Die Lebensstufen der Frau“, Schweriner Volkszeitung

Sabine Slatasch, “Die Kraft der Verwandlung“, Gransee Zeitung

Carola Martin, “Kraftvolle Farben und Dynamische Formen“, Märkische Allgemeine

2006

R. Badenschier, “Die Schönheit des Einzelnen“, Schweriner Volkszeitung

Antje Scherer, “Wo Tante Ilse zu Hause ist“, Märkische Oderzeitung

Arno Neumann, “Städte und Städter“, Märkische Allgemeine

Irene Marx, “Art News“, Singapure Art Gallery Guide

2005

Eva Lienemann, “Neue Erkenntnisse zweier Berliner“, Rheinische Post

Christian Schindler, “Susanne Haun zeigt Menschen im Bild“, Berliner Woche

Susanne Haun, “Der Rhythmus des Körpers“, Palette

“Zeitlose Kunst“, Hellweger Anzeiger

Dr. Werner Stockfisch, “Unterwegs zu Städten und Menschen“, Schweriner Volkszeitung

2004

“Farbe satt und viele Glücksmomente“, Berliner Abendblatt

Bauersachs, “Mausefallen und Frösche in Porträts“, Süddeutsche Zeitung

Vroni Vogel, “Ausgeprägter erzählerischer Duktus“, Erdinger Anzeiger

2003

“Noch nicht Schicht für Werk 4“, Der Neue Tag, Weiden

Rico Jalowietzki, “Nachbarschaft in Holz und Farbe“, Märkische Oderzeitung

Eva Schmidt, “Einzeln kommen wir nicht recht voran“, Der Nordberliner

2002

Eva Schmidt, “Emotionen in Farbe“, Der Nordberliner



TEXTS

Dr. Falko Herlemann, “Strangers in the Night“, Galerie im Technopark Kamen

Claudia Jahnke (collector), “Galerie Elbchaussee acht“

Bernd Kurt Götz (satirical artist, moderator, writer), “Galerie Süd“

Joachim Steinmann (educator and graphic artist), “Linienspiele“

Dr. Petra Lange (art historian), “Städte und Städter“

Judith Meisner (art historian, M.A.), “Menschen im Bild“

Dr Werner Stockfisch (journalist), “Aus den vier Himmelsrichtungen“

Hannah Köpel (cultural scientist), “Die Poesie der Menschen“

Andreas Mattern (watercolourist), “Gemalte Verwandlung“



PUBLICATIONS

Catalogue “Susanne Haun – 2006“

Catalogue “Susanne Haun – Malerei und Zeichnung“

Catalogue of the New York exhibition 21.-10.03.2006

Catalogue book “Susanne Haun – Malerei“