Daniel Hanequand

Biography

Daniel Hanequand 1938 – 2013

I was introduced to Daniel Hanequand by his wife Maria -Carla Carrera. She visited the gallery and brought three books of her late husband’s work for us to consider exhibiting. It took me some time to respond. I often find reproductions of artist’s works to be remote and difficult to get a real sense of. But there was something, especially in his pencil work, that intrigued me enough to arrange a visit.

Maria-Carla Carrera invited me into here home and shared stories with me of Daniel,
the joy he felt working, his sense of humour, his very particular and surprising way of perceiving the world, his love of music and language and of all the forms of expression humans engage in. She told me that as a citizen of France he served as a paratrooper for the French army in the Algerian war, surviving over 300 jumps into that difficult and remote region of north Africa. This when he was just 19 until he was 24. I try to imagine what a different beginning he had. Real threats and danger and loss. He did not just know life from sitting in the safety of his room. He took risks and saw aspects of humanity that many of us do not experience.

Working with my assistant Sae Kimura, opening up one portfolio after another of his drawings and looking at them exposed, not even under glass, we were struck by his incredible skill and patience. It is at first glance impossible to take in the fine and subtle layers of what emerges as incredible animated figures exhibiting particular human qualities or gestures. Actually it is the complexity of the characters he draws which is most striking and unusual. None are simply this or that. Rather each one embodies a whole range of human emotions as each of us do. But remarkably he does not seem to pass judgement on or favour one quality over another. Perhaps this is what enables us to look more closely and to inquire into his unique perception. And when we do look we see that his figures are moving, even when they appear to be still they are fluid. Often they are balanced very tentatively on balls or on the edge of stairs and this conveys a dynamic energy in the pieces, for the most part, speaking of his drawings, without the use of colour.

 

Meeting someone in their art is a very unusual opportunity. I have chosen not to read the descriptions written by other curators, even though I am sure that they are eloquent and insightful, because I want to challenge myself to know him through the very full body of work that he has left for us.

When Maria-Carla Carrera passed away in 2017 she bequethed much of Daniel’s work to the gallery in hope that we would find a way to share it with visitors. We have since
opened up a room on the third floor which has become ‘The Drawing Room’ and is a
a space in which Daniel’s drawing can be permanently on display.

deborah harris