Henrik Hofsaess

Lives and works in Sondershausen, Germany

Artist statement

I am a Menschenmaler — a painter of human essence. I look for the moment in which a person is completely themselves, beyond status, role or expectation. I want to make visible what is essential before it vanishes in the noise of the world. I work primarily with natural earth and stone pigments, sometimes combined with oil and gold leaf. I paint on Florentine, Flemish and Brussels linen and hemp, whose visible, breathing surfaces remain an integral part of the work. The earth is not merely a material in my paintings; it is part of their substance and their meaning. My figures are encountered through portrait, myth, memory, relationship and nature. Myth is not an illustration of the past, but a way of reaching something human that remains present. I am interested in what connects us beneath the identities we carry — in presence, vulnerability, origin and belonging. For me, painting begins with an encounter. It is an attempt to make something essential visible without taking away its mystery.

Artwork