hank ehrenfried
Hank Ehrenfried — "Still Life," 2020
Hank Ehrenfried paints from photographs. As our world teeters on the edge of whatever comes next, he fear constantly, what if scenes like this can never happen again? Venus in August at dusk, a child’s birthday party at a farm, a handful of seashells. The beautiful ‘lack’ that has defined his life for so long edges up against a looming unknown. Despite their beauty, the spaces that escape definition, that are queered through removal are increasingly filled with dread and fear.
We are all faced with the possibility of a future that looks unlike anything we can reasonably place ourselves in - a future where we are totally displaced. The repetition of the present appears in technicolor to Ehrenfried. Because he is afraid that even those things will vanish. If the next thing sees them changed irreparably, forgetting their truth would be the worst punishment of all.
Hank Ehrenfried (b. 1992, New Jersey) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He holds a BFA in Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon (2014) and a MFA in Painting from Pratt Institute (2019). His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at AuxierKline in New York, NY; Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY; and Welcome Gallery in Charlottesville, VA. He has also exhibited at Public Swim Gallery in New York, NY; Danese | Corey Gallery in New York, NY; Susan Eley Gallery in New York, NY; and Trestle Gallery in Brooklyn, NY.
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