Dancing lady

Stuart Hahn, a local artist, did the work you see here; I was first introduced to his work by a teenage boyfriend who lived down the street from the Hahn’s. If memory does not lie, the work was a black and white drawing of an anatomically correct male figure being subjugated, the technique showed great delicacy though the subject matter was, to my untrained eye, a trifle risqué. I was fascinated and hooked ever since.

Though I am not equipped to do scholarly art reviews, I’ll leave that to the pros, I have been around the art world long enough to know, Stuart is special. He does not dabble, flitting from this media to that and his work is not a series of trite “sceneries”, and he remains true to his form and works at perfecting it. However, his art is not the basis of our friendship. You see, I admire him for many other things, most of all his courage and conviction.

It cannot have been easy to walk in his shoes, and though it is not my place to reveal his life, let us say that though he is a middle class white man, he does not stick to type. Some days, when I need to take a break from the constant pressure of work, being able to barge into his life via telephone is what helps to save my sanity. In a way, it is like having Carlisle back, they’re both quite irascible but so am I. We talk about lots of things, his work, mine, life in general, love, he respects my opinions though he does not always agree with me, and I his. It is a generous giving of that most precious commodity, time, it means a great deal to me.

Stuart’s work reveals much about him; it is meticulous, time consuming with attention to detail. He cares about his work, while it is for sale,that is not what drives him to create. When he uses colour it is in overlays, using coloured pencils instead of paint. The art critics refer to it as illustration and they are right in one respect, he illustrates a depth of feeling that is hard to get from other more robust media. Some of his work has a naughty joy to it, there is a particular piece, the inspiration is from One Thousand and One Nights. The Caliph is fondling the breast of his paramour, his expression is priceless, one day I hope to own this piece for the pleasure it gives me to look at it.

I envy him, he his true to his calling, he has chosen to make his way in the world doing what he has to do.