Max HECHINGER | Keiner streichelt den Hund oder backt den Kuchen

Opening Friday, 11 October 2024, 7 pm

open Fridays 3-6 pm // Saturdays 12-3 pm
and by appointment

Max Hechinger’s paintings are often characterized by large, sometimes monumental, formats. In environment-like configurations, these are complemented by smaller-format works and sculptural objects made of cardboard. Here, “picture-making” is not only an interdisciplinary manual process of postulating the imaginary, but also of reflecting reality to the point of appearing obliquely illustrative and opening up spaces for narration and interpretation. Vacillating between idyll and dreariness, Max Hechinger’s works reflect life in rural and natural spaces. Anthropomorphized depictions of animals humorously show the interweaving of “human” and “non-human” animals in their respective needs. It is about satisfying hunger, finding a place to sleep, collecting, building, hiding, playing and celebrating. A pointy-toothed rodent in a rocker jacket makes his rounds in the forest on a motorcycle. Stencil-like figures, grinning like honey-cake horses, frozen in time as they splash into a puddle in the pouring rain. Are they bears, beavers or St. Bernards, spiking the summer punch in the picnic hut?

Oliver Kossack, 2024