Jason Hackenwerth’s paintings are urgent, bodily expressions of the inner world - raw records of thought, sensation, and transformation. Best known for his large-scale balloon sculptures, Hackenwerth brings that same sense of physicality and movement into his two-dimensional work. Layers of gestural brushstrokes, abstract shapes, and fragmented language accumulate on the canvas like sediment, forming a kind of visual archaeology of the psyche. Each mark feels instinctive yet deliberate, channeling a primal energy that speaks to both the chaos and clarity of inner experience.

At the heart of Hackenwerth’s practice is a deep engagement with the human condition - its fragility, resilience, and constant flux. His paintings are not illustrations of specific narratives but rather emotional landscapes, shaped by impulses, memories, and subconscious drives. Color is used not decoratively, but as a visceral force: luminous reds pulse beside inky blacks; translucent washes dissolve into aggressive gestures. The result is a tension between control and surrender, form and disintegration, echoing the contradictions of being alive.

Language appears sporadically in Hackenwerth’s compositions - not as linear communication, but as fragments of thought or feeling, surfacing and disappearing within the visual field. These traces of text, often obscured or incomplete, mirror the way we process internal dialogue: nonlinear, fleeting, and emotionally charged. By inviting viewers into this intuitive and often vulnerable space, Hackenwerth’s paintings become more than visual objects - they become experiences, embodied and shared.