UWE HENNEKEN

Aufbruch (Departure)e & Boat Painting (Voyageurs)

Artist Statement

Uwe Henneken: On the Threshold

Uwe Henneken’s artistic practice merges mythology, introspection, and spiritual exploration, offering a deeply human response to the disorientation of contemporary life. His luminous, color-saturated paintings are populated by figures in transition—allegorical representations of modern individuals searching for direction in a fragmented, rapidly changing world. Despite addressing existential uncertainty, his work radiates compassion and hope, affirming life and embracing the complexity of the human journey.

The central theme is the human in relation to transience—between eternity and the now. Drawing on archetypal and mythological narratives, Henneken explores change, transformation, and the encounter with the “Other.” Figures and symbols move fluidly between identities, genders, and temporal dimensions, offering gateways into shifting states of consciousness.

In works such as Departure or the Boat Paintings series, archetypal figures set out on uncertain paths or embark in simple vessels, seeking orientation across luminous seas or into radiant skies. These images evoke migration, climate change, spiritual quest, and the longing for refuge and renewal. Composed from patterns of different epochs, his characters suggest a humanity caught between past and future, yet always holding the possibility of arrival in the present.

Embracing the inevitability of change, Henneken’s art stands as a testament to transformation as an essential force of existence. As Thomas Hübl notes, “When I know that the path is infinite, I have time for the now.”