Sinister Artwork by Gregor Haefke
A spot on the floor, a shadow at the wall or fluffy clouds in the sky – we humans recognise preferably faces in such all day structures. “In the end it is all us” and that’s what interests Gregor Haefke, the blast beat’s cover artist. “That’s where it starts.”
Awaiting him at Gröpelingen’s depot, Gregor Haefke is easily to recognise. A man with a bald head, black clothes and a little goatee walks along the pavement. At first sight, an artist out of a picture book. A bit reserved at the beginning, he starts talking and his remarkable, clear, brown eyes evoke the feeling to see beyond our world’s surface and attract my attention. I’m all ears now.
All his life, from early childhood on, he started drawing animals and was fascinated by anatomy ever since. At the age of 25 he decided that this was what he wanted to do seriously. First impressions of his pictures might be dark, sinister, provocative even pornographic sometimes, but take your time and have a closer look at all the details you’ll be surprised what you might discover! Influenced by surrealism and because of his tough childhood, his pictures leave a certain atmosphere behind, which is grabbing and doesn’t let go. It’s the strong contrast of light and dark, that makes the impact. Hidden behind airbrush and easel, a picture called “Spielplatz” strikes our eyes. It shows wreckage on a chessboard. Organic, living forms and shapes turn into technical, stiff, lifeless ones. Nature, clouds, organic stuff, heaven, that’s what affects and inspires him. “There’s not only the human and the nature. We are part of the nature. You cannot say the human being is here and everything else is inferior to it. We are constructing our world with all this technology – that doesn’t fit, that’s rubbish ….” Gregor explains.
He works with an airbrush, which is very easy to handle: “you put colour into it and a bit of air and the picture comes out front. You only have to push the button.” Nevertheless, to complete one picture takes him 6 to 8 hours a day for two weeks, without interruption. That’s hardly compatible with a regular job or other odds and sods.
He always starts with the horizon: “That’s our eye level. You have to fix the horizon to be able to draw in a realistic way, otherwise everything gets disarranged afterwards and nothing fits together again.” After that and having fixed the direction of the light, he forms shapes and arranges segments, the rest is more or less spontaneous, where he doesn’t think about what he’s doing. Feelings and emotions combined with intellect and reason. Even if a picture is finished to ¾ he might has to rework “the whole shit, so that nothing is left from the beginning. That’s nuts, but that’s how it is.”
The album cover for Galskap’s “Manifest der Verdammnis” was his first cooperation with a Heavy Metal Band. As long as it fits together with him and with what he’s doing, he can imagine such cooperation again. His pictures are a bit of his own flesh and blood and he cannot pinch off something that he doesn’t feel comfy with or that he doesn’t like. Although Galskap gave him their new album’s title and said something about Judges and Condemned, Gregor didn’t adhere to that and tells us that it is “only 20% compromise”.
Eventually Gregor has found his way and his light, “his back light, it’s not the easiest, but has an impact.” He definitely is passionate about what he is doing and there are aspects that play a role for everybody, especially evolution: “We are not too far away from being worms, it’s all one line.” he knows that, he feels that and he uses that.
Janine Brauer
