43i n t h e Artwor ld .com42 i n t h e Artwor ld .com

Soho New YorkInterview with Jean-Marie Haessle

By Michael Macinnis

Born in France, Jean-Marie Haessle moved toNew York in 1967, where he lives and paintstoday. As part of our ongoing series of interviewswith working artists in New York, this interviewwas took place at the artist’s studio in Soho.

How did you get started making art? This is solong ago; I am afraid to even think of it. I was 17and had been very sick and spent two months inthe hospital. My oldest brother bought me a bookon Impressionism. I became obsessed reading it.I though, that’s it, I will be an artist, mostly for allthe excessive romantic reasons. I have to add, mypaternal grand-father had been a professional signpainter. He died very young from lead poisoning.He had a brother, my great uncle who was anartist, mostly doing religious frescos for churches.He supposedly got into alcohol, spent seven yearsin the French Foreign Legion before one day showingup in my village, and then after a while he disap-pearing for good.

Where do you get your inspiration? Inspi-ration is such an overused word. It is part ofthe old and worn out conceptions; like ge-nius, bril liant, great, for example. As youknow, inspiration means being in spirit. Weare all in spirit, if not we are dead. So I amnot looking to be inspired; the biggest inspi-ration is work and knowing how to be alone.I think all artists have to discover their ownways for being able to stare at a blank canvasand make something. Usually I deface it first,with anything I feel like doing, charcoalsquiggles, color doodles, spray can, etc.From there, a feeling of color has to somehowget into me, and then there is working.But words are of no use here.

S tud io V i s i t

The artist at work, Jean-Marie Haessle in his Soho studio, 2014, New York. Courtesy: The artist.

“Hokusai, one of the greatest JapaneseUkiyo-e artist, when he turned 70 years old,said that he now really thinks that he wascapable of doing some great drawings.”

45i n t h e Artwor ld .com44 i n t h e Artwor ld .com

What are you working on now? Twelveyears ago I did an all black and white paint-ing, a very simple trompe l’oeil. It was greyspray painted, organic shapes on a whitebackground, with an all-over calligraphic linedrawing over this background. Every sooften, it seems every few years, I return tothis concept and produce a few more pieces.I also did series of very colorful paintings inoil, some almost all-over in look. Then severalyears I got again very much involved in thiswork. Now I want to expend on this andtackle the color factor more and more. I havefinished a series of paintings which in factare more like drawings with paint on canvas;since I am applying paint directly from thecolor tube to the canvas, a technique I usedextensively many years ago. It gives an initialfreedom and spontaneity to the surface. Afterthis first phase of work, I usually revert to thebrush, or rather, I am mixing all and everyway to achieve my goal; brush, direct tubeapplication, hands, fingers. The final workhas to have an all-over effect, to be a chro-matic whole where every color, just like eachinstrument of a symphonic orchestra, has toparticipate and enrich the fullness of thetotal surface of the painting. Naturally, it’snot the beginning of a work that is important,it’s to know when it’s finished. Very hard.Sometime you just stop and leave it at that.

What’s your favorite medium to work inand why? Oil on canvas and acrylic on canvas.Oil, for the impasto of the surface; it is alsounmatched in terms of the infinitely subtleshadings you can achieve. There is a certainresonance in a beautiful oil painted surfacewhich is impossible to do with acrylic paint.The drawback is that the work is necessaryslow, and quick over-painting is usually flir t-ing with disaster. On the other hand, theacrylic medium is perfect to work fast, and ifyou want to do color blending you have towork very, very fast, without thinking. Thiscan be a very good thing, not thinking. Mylatest acrylic works are usually quite large,by necessity, since the gesture, so differentfrom my almost intimate and slow way of myoil works, has to be wider with spontaneityand speed. The French painter, Mathieu,would be a better example than Pollock inthis way of working, and with large brushes.I usually start with the canvas on the floor, un-stretched, where I can work from all sides.Not having a top or bottom is great, it keepsyou disoriented, which is very good at this

point. Later I tack the work on the wall, andthen a lot or re-working takes place. Some-times very few elements of the initial floorwork is left, nevertheless, the energy is stillthere; this is the most important ingredient inthe final resolution of the painting. I love toalternate between the two mediums. I usedto try to meld the two, but I have given updoing this. It presents the problem of twovery different sides in the output of my work.So be it.

What is your personal definition of life andart and everything in between? That’s a lotin one question. What’s the meaning of life?Guess I just might pass of that one. Doing art,for me, is not trying to answer this un-answer-able question, but it is an attempt, even if afeeble one, to make some kind of sense ofbeing alive. To some extent I envy those whobelieve in a God, but this is not for me. As fororganized religion, it’s obviously the greatestplague for mankind since the beginning oftime. Millions upon millions have died forone or another godly cause, and we comeever closer to blowing up the whole planetbecause of religious fanatics. All supposedlyin the name of a God who, I am sure doesnot exist. In the end, painting also gives mesomething to do to relieve the sometimesutter boredom of life.

What are your artistic influences? Of coursethe Impressionists were the first, and the most last-ing one. The classical American Expressionists,de Kooning, Pollock; but also Dubuffet, the Cobramovement. Now, at my age, I don’t know any-more, and I don’t care. I go seldom to see showsor even museums. I guess I am mostly only inter-ested in what I am doing, time is running out…

What are the reactions to your work?When I was younger, I guess I was moresensitive to other people’s reactions, and ofcourse I don’t know many artists who don’tl ike it when they hear good things abouttheir work. Very quickly you learn that veryfew people tell you the truth through. So youhave to learn that praise or crit icism aremeaningless. The best and funniest reactionsI get are from children. They are totally natural,with an imagination unmatched by any adult.Then there are the write-ups by the profes-sional critics. Most have a way with wordsand fill up a lot space, what we call in Frenchverbiage, but the meaning is usually as fuzzyas cotton candy. So what’s left is to navigatewith your own GPA. The most dangerous

“As you know, inspiration means beingin spirit. We are all in spirit, if not we are dead.”

Haessle Transcriptione, 2013. Oil on canvus, 66 x 66 inches. Courtesy: The artist.

47i n t h e Artwor ld .com46 i n t h e Artwor ld .com

thing for an artist is to let the trends of themoment into the work. Unless that is whatyou are setting out to do, to pander to thefashion of the moment, you have to be cutout for this sort of thing. The best thing for anartist is to go ahead with the work, with en-thusiasm, this is still a good word. I have afriend, when he comes to see me he alwaystells me: Do you have any new pieces whichcame make me feel enthused?

What do you do when you are not makingart? Going to the gym, at this point in my life,even if not fun every time I go, it is necessary forkeeping my aging body somewhat in shape. Ineed it not only to feel better, but I think, and thisis a little crazy, I feel I am only now really hittingmy prime, that only now I’m ready to do goodworks, to make the painting I always dreamed Imight be capable of doing. It’s always the futurework which is the most exiting to think about. So Iwant to last a little longer, if possible. It might bepresumptuous, but this is what I feel. Hokusai, oneof the greatest Japanese Ukiyo-e artist, when heturned 70 years old, said that he now really thinksthat he was capable of doing some great draw-ings. But then, he was Hokusai; I am absolutelynot pretending to be anything else but what I am,an artist trying to do his best. It reminds me of agreat moment in an old film, with Jack NicolsonOne Flew Over The Coo Coo’s Nest, the scenewhen he tried to rip up the water fountain and allthe crazy people where laughing at him and heso he said: At least I tried. I also take time off fromtime to time, not doing anything, maybe going tosee a movie or just sit in a park and watch trees.Life is exceedingly boring, doing art is still thebest antidote.

What do you think makes good art good?Originality or style? Originality and styleare the same to me. I like to look at a greatwork of art, not in terms of style or originality;these words are totally meaningless whenone sees a great work. Maybe it’s poetry,magic, inspired or infused by spirit, the soul,the essence that keeps us alive and leavesour mortal body when we die. The artist hasto somehow transmute iner t materials withthe spark of his own soul, like the alchemistswho tried to turn lead into gold — but theyall failed. In this sense, the great artists arethe real alchemists, the ones who reallyturned lead into gold. All great art has that. M

Haessle Homage 1, 2013. Oil on canvus, 40 x 46 inches. Courtesy: The artist.