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Throughout my life, I have consistently come to understand the world by creating art. In creating I experienced joy. I paint from my imagination and from observation. When I started painting in 1974, my dreams and imagination led me to explore my cultural history as a child of holocaust survivors. I am also interested in painting people. |
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“The blank canvas is a mystical beginning of an inner journey.”
Michael Hafftka, The Matter of Spirit, 2011. Oil on canvas, 60 x144 in. Courtesy of the artist.
Michael Hafftka
Throughout my life, I have consistently come to understand the world by creating art. In creating I experienced joy. I paint from my imagination and from observation. When I started painting in 1974, my dreams and imagination led me to explore my cultural history as a child of holocaust survivors. I am also interested in painting people.
I am currently working on a series of portraits of poets. Reading Philip Levine’s poetry in high school first inspired this interest in portraiture; over the years I have read all of his poetry and essays. We corresponded for many years, and, after many entreaties, he recently sat for a portrait. This is generally how I work: I do not like to paint strangers because I work better when I develop a deep affection for my subject. I prefer to paint those I love. My work in the imaginary vein continues at the same time. Most recently I have been exploring the Zohar, a 12th Century Jewish mystical text. My Zohar paintings are based on my feeling as I start with a blank canvas. In the tradition of Kabbalah, nothingness is given preeminent value. I have always felt this way about the void of the blank canvas: it is a mystical beginning of an inner journey.
I was fortunate in the 1980s to be included with my peers as a Neo-Expressionist, which introduced my work to collectors, and now many of my paintings are spread around the world.
Some of the New York galleries that have featured my work are the Rosa Esman Gallery, the Aberbach Gallery, the Mary Ryan Gallery, and the DiLaurenti Gallery. I have exhibited in the United States Japan, Holland, Germany and Belgium. My work is represented in the permanent collections of numerous museums, including Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Carnegie Museum of Art, New York Public Library, Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, Housatonic Museum of Art, Arizona State University Art Museum, Chapman University’s Phyllis and Ross Escalette Permanent Collection of Art, National Gallery of Art, and Yeshiva University Museum.
I live and work in Brooklyn, New York.
