Karl Haendel

With pencil and clear colors in politics: the American Karl Haendel creates the icons of our time in his first comprehensive monograph

Based in Los Angeles, conceptual artist Karl Haendel (* 1976, New York) is known for his large-scale graphite drawings, installations, videos, and public projects. His practice is driven by his interest in the semiotic function of images and texts: how they are used to form both personal and cultural meaning, values, and beliefs. Pulling from a broad-ranging and idiosyncratic archive of found, stock, and self-made images, Haendel’s works engage in a critical assessment and interpretation of themes ranging from masculinity to ethical responsibility and the mediation of political events and public personas. This publication is the first monograph on Haendel’s work. It assembles his oeuvre from the years 2000 to 2017 and offers new insight into his multivalent practice.