AG18

AG18 Gallery shows Hako Hankson Born in 1968, lives and works in Douala/Cameroon. He represented Cameroon at the Venice Biennale 2024. Hankson takes us into a world that the people experience as comprehensively animated. They do not claim to subjugate nature. They interact – spiritually and ritually – with flora and fauna, gods, spirits and demons, with the living and the dead. They are filled with myths and legends. This is how they form identity and social affiliation. This can be discovered in Hankson’s figures, masks, symbols, characters and constellations. In developed industrialized countries, the prevailing belief is that an analytical mind is the key to a successful life. But this is not how most people in the world think, as anthropologist Joseph Henrich’s studies have shown us. Those who only pay homage to ‘rationality’ and ‘individualism’ are indeed ‘peculiar’: ‘The Weirdest People in the World’. Hankson invites viewers into an enigmatic culture to cross ideological boundaries, adopt new perspectives and experience the world anew. He himself is a border crosser. Fascinated by modern technology and industrial progress, he trained as a car mechanic. But he is also influenced by his father, a sculptor, musician and spiritual leader. Hako Hankson paints with bold colors, combines different times and spaces, creates vibrant tension. He celebrates the unity of body and soul, of people and nature, of the present characterized by the past. Spiritually related to fundamental questions of human existence. Painters from Picasso to Basquiat have incorporated elements of African art into their works. Often without reference. Hankson is rooted in this culture, harbors its diversity, draws on its centuries-old resources and thus gives global culture its own impetus

Hako Hankson Hako Hankson, born in 1968 in Bafang, Cameroon, now lives and works in Douala. A self-taught artist, whose real name is Gaston Hako, he dedicated himself to painting and the formative influences of his youth early on. His father, a sculptor and musician at the Royal Palace, shaped Hankson’s animistic beliefs, which strongly influence his work to this day. Animism is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value of sentient beings. Unlike humanism, animism does not exclude non-human sentient animals simply because they do not belong to the human species. Hankson’s works are characterised by the use of masks, tribal figures, and a careful selection of colors, presenting a concentrated depiction of Africa. The masks serve not only as regional and cross-cultural symbols but also as key elements of animism, bridging the gap between body and soul, the here and the hereafter. “My father, for his part, drew me into animist beliefs: for example, by using masks and statuettes in a dialogue with the afterlife, and that’s how I came to understand the power of masks, what they could carry as a spirit, a soul, something subtle that we can’t control.” Hankson’s paintings are directed at both his homeland and the world, aiming to convey a contemporary image of Africa that preserves its tribal nature. The subjectivity of the cultural context is maintained alongside a universalistic form language, inspired by artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Dubuffet, and Antoni Tàpies. This formalistic approach reflects both the European, often distorted aesthetic references to originally African imagery and the sources of inspiration from Hankson’s youth. In 2024 Hankson was participating in the Venice Biennale, representing Cameroon.

The AG18-gallery’s mission is to offer the emerging art scene in Austria a platform, bring underrepresented international voices to Vienna and facilitate inspiring cross fertilization and dialog between local and global art communities. AG18 specializes in showcasing the work of both emerging and established artists from across the world, with a particular emphasis on younger generations. Its program is characterized by a wide array of artistic media, while holding a special focus on painting; as well as providing a separate showroom to artist-editions and printmaking at their special project “Limited Edition Art Prints“ and a “show case” for the presentation of a single outstanding work. Internationally orientated, solo, group and topic exhibitions define the program across their three gallery spaces. Young West African art has become a special focus for the gallery, stemming from Michael Schmitz’s continuous research. Many direct contacts to artists and close collaboration with the African Artists’ Foundation in Lagos, led by internationally renowned curator and art manager Azu Nwagbogu. The gallery was founded in 2018 by the passionate art collectors Dr. Margot Schmitz, a clinical psychiatrist and neurologist, and Dr. Michael Schmitz, a psychologist, management coach, and former journalist. They have dedicated their lives to the depth and complexities of the human experience and relations– an interest also reflected in their ever-growing art collection and gallery program. In close collaboration with invited curators and art theorists, Margot Schmitz and Michael Schmitz provide a dynamic platform for contemporary art in Vienna and beyond.