Adrian Haak, Jr.

Acer

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Year 2021
Medium Silverpoint and goldpoint on panel
Dimensions 30 x 18.5 cm

About the work

I’ve been thinking about and meditating on the notion of hope – what it is, its utility, what it does and does not do, and where to find it.

Psychologically, hope is an action rooted in clear, practical measures to bridge the current now to an anticipated then. It is distinguished from optimism in that, while both look toward a good yet to come, optimism is a passive state, lacking definition and direction, whereas hope opens the mind to find creative solutions to realize a specific, improved future.

This leaf is from a silver maple tree in Southwark Park and was one of several given to me by my (then) two-year-old son, who spontaneously collected some for me during a walk with his mother last autumn. It sits centered in the lower third of the image, amid an expanse of dark tone. Both the leaf and the tone are drawn with silver. The panel is cut to the 1:1.618 of the Golden Ratio, and the uppermost tip of the leaf echoes this, marking the next subdivision of the ratio within the picture plane. The five lobes of the leaf suggest an upward pointing pentagram, which has ancient associations with health, positivity, good fortune, and fulfilment.

The four semi-circles, drawn in gold, reference the celestial spheres used in early cosmological models of the universe. Since ancient times, the number four has been used to symbolize the physical, the concrete, what could be touched and felt, and these circles speak to the factuality of our own celestial context.

The title is taken from the silver maple’s Latin name, Acer saccharinum. As a noun, acer denotes a particular genus of trees and shrubs, but as an adjective, its meaning is nuanced, depending on its application. In a physical sense, it can mean sharp, fine, or pointed, but, when applied to states of mind and intellectual qualities, it can mean acute, penetrating, sagacious, keen, ardent, or shrewd. Another, perhaps less reliable, translation yields an interesting word: seer.

This leaf seemed a fitting totem to bear this idea of hope.

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Etruscan pugilist #A

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