Commentary pop-artist ‘harti’ launches exclusive furniture & accessories range for 2025
Introducing Sasha Hartman, also known as Harti, the visionary artist responsible for enchanting dreamlike creations.
To commemorate the upcoming launch of his new homeware line in 2025, we sit down with Harti to explore the beginnings of his artistic journey and the inspiration behind #BrainFoodInColour.
Can you share the story behind your journey in creating your striking art?
My combined love for visual art and philosophy took me on an exhilarating and adventurous journey. That very journey was kick-started by my wife Tessa, who, during Covid, reminded me of my skills and talents of years long gone. Her subjective and biased approach found grateful ears. It wasn’t easy to get back into it; the muscle memory of my fingers had better days, and my eyes seemed to be more relaxed than they should have been, but a couple of weeks into the journey, my hand couldn’t wait for what my brain was going to produce. It felt like a calvary one moment and a dopamine rush the next. Re-studying the old masters, from Caravaggio through Ribera and Velasquez to the modern pop world of Liechtenstein and Warhol. The visual dichotomy between the old and the new became symbiotic to me. The oneness of it all. Why segregate? Why divide?
As Heraclitus said, everything is in flux, and our species’ evolution is just at its beginnings. Being me, I still needed some added sugar, and yes, it was given to me by my second big love: philosophy. From a young boy, I was fascinated, attracted, and almost obsessively strangled by the great philosophers of our planet. My philosophical journey started with Camus, through Heidegger via Kierkegaard, to finish with the master itself, Nietzsche. Everything was re-evaluated on the cards, from metaphysics and ethics to epistemology. One has to doubt the standards of our status and, in short, question everything to see the world in a different light. Please don’t get me wrong; what I tell you is entirely subjective. A subjectivity that works for my mind, not necessarily solipsistic, but yet as subjective as it gets. Wittgenstein is probably laughing in the higher spheres of the celestial frequencies. So here you have it: my art is a melting pot of provoking ideas and unanswered philosophical questions, never political but carrying an ontological DNA that should make us think differently about our lives, our approach towards the concept of time and ultimately towards us. My art is nothing but existential food in colours. We shouldn’t be afraid to find ourselves, we shouldn’t be frightened to question life, and we shouldn’t be scared to be creative. It doesn’t matter if it’s good or not if your creation is a success. What counts is that you squeeze your cerebral juices and re-discover your synaptic athleticism. Maybe Nietzsche was right after all; my wife certainly was.
We admire your philosophy of drawing inspiration from your heritage, career, and culture to craft vibrant designs that enhance storytelling. Could you share more about this process?
Thank you very much; it means a lot to me. Well, my process is quite eclectic, if not chaotic. Nevertheless, most of my paintings start with a question—mostly an existential one. The result is always the same: a monolithic period of insomnia. If one brain hemisphere wants to go for a snooze, but the other has got other ideas, that is the moment that memory goes amok. I start seeing snap-shots of paintings from Caravaggio, Correggio and Tintoretto to Rubens, Ingres and so on until the journey slows down on Jasper Johns, Manga Art and Lichtenstein before being prodded by Montaigne, Pascal and Sartre. Quite exhausting, to say the least. As frenzied the thinking process it, is the artistic execution. All the sketches and composition are done alla prima. I try not to change anything afterwards. Now starts the laborious fleshing out, detailing and colouring. It is during these weeks that my brain can recharge again and take a sabbatical.
We have previously showcased your beautiful, sustainable swimwear. Are you planning to launch a new collection?
The swimwear is a new medium, a new wearable canvas, and with all things new, one has got to explore new territories and ventures. Of course, Tess and I are workaholics, We are also launching Harti Homewares with luxe furniture featuring my paintings and cushions. Tessa has ideas for rugs and other lifestyle products so I do believe this is just the beginning. We can’t stop. Standstill means boredom. And we are not very good at it. So, again, the answer is yes.
What does a typical day look like for you?
I am alergic to routine. Routine is a step before boredom. In saying that, my days are quite different every day, albeit it starts most of the time with a black coffee. Depending in which phase I am I will go to the studio and start working until Tess calls me for dinner. To me, time has always been relative. Most of the time I live in a time compressed world, where time stops, and the art takes over. It is almost, that ate art is doing the job and my body has become the tool. Fascinating concept, isn’t it?
In what ways does your life influence your artistic practice?
Synchronicity. Life becomes art and art becomes life, and everything synch’d to the never ending flow of Heraclitus’ river.
Could you provide us with additional information about furniture?
Isn’t there a better way to be embedded in art?
One Of The New Discoveries In The Art World -Harti, Is Set To Launch An Exclusive Furniture & Homewares Range For 2025.
The limited-edition furniture collection, Featuring Harti’s original paintings, will include luxe velvet armchairs, dining chairs, and deckchairs, as well as homewares such as cushions and tablecloths. This new exclusive furniture collection will be available to order online at Harti-Art.com from November 2024. Celebrating the link between art and design, this new collection of furniture and homewares recognises that art is an essential component of the modern home. Artistic movements have always influenced interior design, both avenues highlighting personal and aesthetic connections. For this collection, Harti’s post-modernist pop art movement-inspired artwork has been reproduced onto luxe velvets and rich linens, a collection of bold, thought-provoking, statement pieces of furniture and accessories for the home.
Sascha Hartmann of Harti Art comments: “Why should my art be confined to canvas? Essentially, this is functional art that brings a new dynamic to furniture. There is no eye so discerning as the eye of an artist.
The objects we live with, be it furniture, ceramics, rugs or art, are meticulously considered and chosen to reflect our character and personal tastes. When people sit on the Harti arm or dining chairs, I want them to question their own self and the political, historical and religious doctrines that feature in my paintings. I’m a storyteller, and this unique piece of furniture allows one to immerse oneself not only through my painting perception but through tactility, experiencing a new philosophical reality. My paintings capture and question belief systems, societal anxieties, political oppression, love, hate, and desire – of course, some will find it controversial. Each dining chair features a ‘commentary pop art’ face, our ‘collective subconscious’ if you will. The aim? To stimulate, engage and challenge one to peel back layers of their own mind through dramatic artistic commentaries. At least one can sit down if discussing ‘Heliocentrism 1534 vs The Megalomania of the Church’ offends you!”