“Lights All Awry in the Sky” brings together works by artist and film-maker Daniel
Hartlaub from Frankfurt and musician Keith Rodway from Hastings. The centrepiece
of the exhibition at Electro Studios is “Vanished, The Curious Life and Death of Felix
Hartlaub”, inspired by Daniel’s late uncle, with animated drawings and videos by
Daniel, and live music.
In May 1945, three days before the end of WW2, Felix Hartlaub, a 31 year old
draughtsman and writer, was recalled for duty and boarded a train to Spandau. He
was never seen again, cutting tragically short a promising literary career.
Since 1940 Hartlaub had lived in occupied Paris on archival work for the German
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He chronicled daily life in the French capital as ‘word
etchings’ with a painter’s eye for detail. He was only too aware of his presence as an
unwelcome intruder, visible through meticulous sketches of the city’s skyline and its
people: civilians and soldiers in cafés and half-seen trysts during blackout hours, and
not least an ever-looming threat marked with swastika flags distressed by the wind.
His book Clouds Over Paris is a unique testament to the persistence of ordinary life
overshadowed by a calamitous backdrop.
The mystery and strangeness which surrounded Felix Hartlaub’s life are reflected in
his work, shaped by tumultuous times – an uncertain world in danger of destroying
itself.
These fragmentary impressions give us a glimpse of an artistic and literary career
that never was. “With the film ‘Vanished’”, explains Daniel Hartlaub, “I hope to find
some answers about an uncle I never met, and subsequently about the barbarous
times he lived in and the parallels to today.”
Hartlaub and Rodway lay open these parallels and leave the viewer to ponder
whether history is in danger of repeating itself.
Electro Studios, Seaside Road, Saint Leonards-on-Sea TN38 0AL
Friday 16 May
5.30pm Necessary Animals with music specially written for the show, plus Simon and
the Pope
Saturday 17 May
11am – 5pm gallery open
7.30pm AKA with Anthony Moore and Jury Service
Sunday 18 May
11am – 4pm gallery open
.
By Judy Parkinson
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