Statement:

Painting is a process, like life is a process, putting substance into a conversation-creating a dialogue-trying to make it interesting…it is all a process.

Biography:

Born in 1957 in Tubingen, Germany. Bernd Haussmann first experienced nature as a small child with his parents, whom he credits for teaching him to understand the reciprocal relationship between man and nature. The painter recalls a lesson taught long ago by his father, “to destroy an anthill doesn’t simply amount to a few dead ants, but rather altars the environment of the forest,” Shifting this idea of personal responsibility and intertwined fate to a global scale–and to a world where we have achieved the ability to decimate the planet with the push of a button–it is easy to understand his concerns. This apprehension provides a key incentive to continue his work. Haussmann’s large-scale paintings (ranging up to 8’ x 12’) carry a physical presence, allowing the viewer to become immersed into the environment they create. Evoking the meditative quality similar to Japanese Zen monochrome landscape paintings, Haussmann’s recent series, “Mountains and Oceans,” contrast strokes of vivid colors against a stark white ground that easily transitions to signify water, earth and sky, further implying their interconnectedness. The vertical format of some of these works heightens that association, with a rising perspective, and the impact that every brushstroke has on the final composition. It is his process, as much as the landscape, that we are able to read in these paintings. Bernd Haussmann studied art, graphic design and print-making at the MERZ Akademie, Stuttgart, from 1976-80. He moved to the United States in 1990 and became a permanent resident in 1995. He has been exhibiting in Boston since 1996 and shows regularly in Germany and other pats of the US. Bernd Haussman named art in residence at the Broad Institute.