Grit, imagination and vulnerability—
Don Hartmann
“Often uncomfortable in social situations, Hartmann creates cinematic reproductions that work opposite of the traditional moral code, and are intentionally exploitative, indulgent, difficult and unhappy.”
Don Hartmann is a pop expressionist who surveys and subverts artistic narratives through his mise-en-scène paintings. His work aims to unearth feelings of curiosity, human vulnerability, or “purity in an alley”. He often draws on the human condition and ideas of the collective unconscious as a provocation to push the viewer into seeing more.
Hartmann rejects complete abstraction, instead he draws and paints recognizable subjects, deliberately using a raw style of rendering and a simple palette in order to convey simplicity in form. Most of the time he uses the human figure as a central subject in his paintings. In the past he worked solely off Polaroid photos that he made, creating either real or conjured scenarios.
Often uncomfortable in social situations, Hartmann creates cinematic reproductions that work opposite of the traditional moral code, and are intentionally exploitative, indulgent, difficult and unhappy.
Don Hartmann | Worcester, MA
In the past I have used Polaroids as a point of reference for a template.
I have now switched to making collages out of my own photos (be it digital/film.) The work I now create is larger scale wise and thematically. I like to enlarge the scale for more visual impact and to further investigate process to the end result (i.e. paint, impasto, and textural qualities vs. the overall rendering or correctness of the subject.)
My style is accidental. I had no intentions of being a painter…just a lucky experiment. I use everything I can get my hand on. I have come to know the things you are not supposed to do…mixing combinations, application, etc., but it has been a part of the process; lessons from failure. Texture and image are the biggies. It is about how the paint is applied but also has to be an image; a situation captured.
As always, the juxtaposition of narrative. I sometimes paint a real situation and sometimes an invented situation. Looking for purity in an alley.
I look at photography constantly. I kind of stink as the grandiose artist. I’m dumpster diving…bits here and there. Fame, excess, longing, hope, fear…, the human experience that could stop any second or go on for 20 years. You know, I people watch, basically.
Don Hartmann 2024, photo by Gail Hunt
