Paintings and Interview of Michael Hafftka from New York.

Memory 2016.

I will say this small Interview and some of his work is not even a glimpse of Hafftka. Links of his website and instagram account is at the end of this post.

Who and from where are you?

I was born in NYC to immigrant parents from Poland and Hungary who survived the Jewish Holocaust. I went to public schools and travelled to Europe and Israel instead of going to college.

How you got into this?

I always knew I was an artist although it took me till I was 20 to find my medium. I toyed with film making, but found it hard to create in a team. Photography was not immediate enough (no instant photography in those days). I tried poetry, but was told by an honest poet I didn't have the knack for it. Finally painting felt just right, it was immediate, it was tactile, and expressed me better than words.

What is your driving force?

Although the connection is not directly obvious, what propels me is an uncontrollable insistent to be free. It may be due to my parent's and the Jewish people's complete loss of freedom during WWII, or it might be the child in me that didn't get to play while growing up in the shadow of the holocaust.

What kind of work you do and why?

Since I paint from my unconscious, my paintings often express my inner life. While many of my paintings express horrors suffered by humans or perpetrated by humans, I also express humor and child's play.

Out of Hand 1985.

Man Meditating 1987.

The Vow 1995.

Whirling 1993.

Family 1992.

Fix 1985.

Puppeteer 2011.

Therapy 1995.

Crowd 2016.

Listen 2002.

Lonely Man.

Parents 2008.

Taking Chances 1995.

Butch Morris 1991.

Direct Line to Heaven 2015.

Hard Rain 1995.

Heir 1995.

Curtain 1996.

For more of Michael Hafftka Check this link of his Instagram account:- https://www.instagram.com/hafftka/ or his website http://www.hafftka.com

All Images are copyright by: Michael Hafftka