A Boy With a Dream
Most of Karl Hahn’s friends describe him as crazy, free-spirited, confident and fearless. These traits not only depict Karl as a person and a friend, but also as the cool and refreshing artist that he is.
Like all great artists, Karl began with the basics. "I had always appreciated art but I was a little too timid to get into it," he said. Hahn has been fascinated by the arts his whole. "I like that anyone can get it and it’s universal, anyone can make art, you just have to say its art."
He started really loving art during his upper year when he took a trip to the dollar store and bought a lot of dollar art supplies on a whim and then went to his room "for a few days just making stuff." He admits this "stuff" probably just looks like a bunch of finger paintings, but this sparked his intense interest in art that he now pursues.
Karl refers to Art 444, an intensive A.P. art course at Exeter, his "first real art class".
He has thrived so far in this course because its flexible atmosphere allows room for a lot of creative freedom. At the moment he is working on creating a portfolio. This, he says, is difficult, as he is struggling to narrow down his broad array of artwork into just five or six pieces.
Even though Karl has had a "late" arrival to the art world, he has already broadened so many of his talents and explored many mediums and ideas. He started off with photography as it was "pretty accessible and pretty easy to get into."
For his Art 444 project, Karl has drawn inspiration from the German Expressionist movement, which includes a lot of painting and woodcuts.
He attained some "gnarly scars" from experimenting with woodprints this summer. His creative process begins with finding discarded furniture from dorm basements, such as missing drawers. He then rips the wood apart into big slabs, carves into them, inks them up, and transfers them to paper. Karl's prints most often depict human figures and objects in expressionist ways, while also occasionally incorporating two or three words of text.
Tara Misenheimer, his Art 444 instructor, was thoroughly impressed by Karl as he was "authentic in his studio habits and motivation."
She admired the way that his desire to create art stems from his craving to do so, and not from the desire for an A.
Karl’s work ethic is insurmountable. Upper Nico Coleman, a friend and dorm mate of Karl’s attested to how Karl sometimes works all night when he is inspired making t-shirt designs, shrinking his Levi's, creating masterful tweets, and helping him write a song.
He said, "Watching Karl work is almost more impressive than the art he creates. Understanding the improvisation that goes into his projects and seeing how much fun he has allows you to appreciate how personal everything he creates is."
Senior Kennedy Alness, a student in Karl’s art class, commented on Karl’s passion for art. "I admire how dedicated he is to his work, how he’s always working hard no matter what," she said.
"He’s got a really individual vision and outlook that is cool and refreshing in art 444 because honestly, we all usually have no idea what we’re doing. That confidence makes me trust him as an artist and someone I look to for critique and help."
Another of Karl’s classmates, senior Sacharja Cunningham, echoed Alness’s thoughts. "I admire Karl’s precision in his carvings and the personality each one has ashe’s able to give very detailed expressions to this wood carvings. Like other members of Art 444, his medium offers a new perspective to an artist like me who has used one medium for most of my life; drawing. Seeing his pieces open my eyes to other artistic possibilities out there."
One of Karl’s best qualities as an artist is his confidence. "He's more comfortable with himself than I could ever be. I think he's the only one on campus who can wear a lederhosen and gold chain and pull it off. He has been able to control his world and make it into something chaotic and wonderful," Coleman said.
Because of this confidence and allowance of himself to be whoever he wants, Karl is a very interesting artist.Karl's artistry expanded into many parts of his daily life outside of the studio. Getting involved in photography helped him begin to see things artistically.
He remarks, "If you think about seeing stuff that’s inspiring, every day you’ll start seeing stuff and you’ll start picking out things that you see as you’re walking around that looks pleasing to the eye."
Misenheimer also commented on Karl’s interest in art in social media, as he is an avid instagrammer. "I recommend that all Exonians follow Karl's Instagram. It has inspired me to post my work on that social media venue, as well. He is prolific, wise and talented," she said.
Karl takes his art everywhere he goes. This year he has embarked on an ongoing performance art piece in which he takes his iPad mini everywhere, using it for outlandish purposes.
"I think it's all a joke. I'm pretty sure it is. He's a really smart guy," his friend upper Sam Millner said.
Karl’s work will debut at the 444 exhibit that will take place on the Sunday before exam week.
If you would like to see Karl in action- visit the 444 studio in #107 of the Mayer Art Center, or join Improv club—another of Karl’s creative outlets.