David Hochbaum | Echoes, 2019

By combining several ingredients and elements David Hochbaum is looking for certain philosophical and psychological truths, while he tries to uncover a revelation of understanding. His approach to art actually reminds that of the chemist seeking the philosopher’s stone in Alchemy: by experimenting all the fine art techniques he learned during his studies, such as photography, painting, woodworking, film and sculpture, Hochbaum in his studio calcinates, distillates, ferments, and sublimates the subjects of his work, transforming them through his very own original language from common people to mythological and psychological archetypes.  Following a strong interest in ancient Greek mythology, Hochbaum found his personal connection to the myths, giving birth to new interpretations allowing him to explore the world around. The mythology was slowly becoming less about archaic history and becoming more centered on his private life, on his living context, on his historical time. 

His collages of cities and towers reflect the surroundings of the cities he lived and the places he has traveled over the years. The cities in Hochbaum’s work are at the same time portraits and landscapes, giving to the layers of architecture, the elements and gestures of humans. The people become the cities and the cities become portraits of the figures. And as mythology used to pass over the universal knowledge of the spirit of the days, the personal mythification of the artist’s life and of the people in it gives us a blink on some of the spirit of our time, rich with hopes, desires, emotions, memories and dreams. Although the specific subject matter and process has been changing over the years, from myths, to damsels, to ghosts, to children, to cities, there are a few recurring images that have remained in David’s work.