Hernan Bas: The Other Side

Hernan Bas (b. Miami, 1978; lives and works in Detroit) draws and paints portraits and narrative pictures of languorous young men in adventurous situations charged with homoeroticism. The book, which is published in conjunction with the artist’s first show at an institution in Europe, presents the works of the past five years, which superimpose a variety of techniques such as woodcutting, silkscreen printing, and airbrush, acrylic, and oil painting. Looking at these images feels like a stroll through a wonderland of art and literary history: classical and modern myths emerge like episodes of a fantasy novel only to disappear again. Integrating figurative as well as abstract fragments and a variety of perspectives, Hernan Bas creates teeming visual worlds in which he counters a romantic melancholia with contemporary painting. Essays by the freelance writer and curator Michele Robecchi, London, and René Zechlin, director, Kunstverein Hannover (approx. 60 color images).