Special Exhibition

Klaus Hack (born in Bayreuth in 1966) is an artist who not only embarked on a successful independent career at an early age, but has also continued to develop his work ever since. Bucking the trend of the times, Hack – inspired by Expressionist sculpture – opted for the traditional medium of wood from the very beginning.

For 40 years now, he has been creating large-scale wooden sculptures – often painted white – that demonstrate versatile and masterful craftsmanship, imaginative motifs and multi-layered themes.

After completing a carpentry apprenticeship, Klaus Hack initially studied at the Academy in Nuremberg under the figurative sculptor Wilhelm Uhlig (1930–2022). In 1991, he moved to the Berlin University of the Arts to study under Rolf Szymanski (1928–2013), where he began to move away from the intact human figure, allowing bodies and objects to develop into free forms from then on. The artist has been working independently since 1995.

Klaus Hack’s sculptures are mostly viewable from all angles, full of openings and interlocking forms. The artist invents fantastical creatures, obsessively structured surfaces and architectural forms, and constructs altars of unusual spirituality. His woodcut prints combine two- and three-dimensional elements, with the carved tree trunk serving as a printing cylinder for large-format prints on canvas.

In addition, Klaus Hack creates impressive woodcuts in high-contrast colours as well as delicately imaginative small-format paintings. The work of Klaus Hack, now aged sixty, is characterised by a love of storytelling and inventiveness. In the consistency with which it has been continually developed using wood as its medium, it stands unique in the present day.

The exhibition traces the development of the artist’s work from his early beginnings in the mid-1980s, which were influenced by the sculptures of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938), through the works from his time as a master student under Rolf Szymanski and his first independent works—the large-format print drum pieces—to the internalised seated figures of the early 2000s, the architectural objects and reliefs, right up to his current altars and figures.

On display are around 30 sculptures, some of which are large-scale, along with a number of monumental woodcut prints and woodcuts, as well as numerous drawings.