...“ Painting is not about delivering a message or making a statement, nor is it about technique or composition. Painting is the attempt to get a little closer to the nature of things. ”...
	- Bernd Haussmann
- Public Collections -
	Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, MA
	Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, NJ
	Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, TX
	Lyman Allyn Museum, New London, CT
	Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA
	Museum der Stadt Reutlingen, Reutlingen, Germany
	Provincetown Art Association Museum, Provincetown, MA
	Stadtmuseum im Kornhaus, Tuebingen, Germany
- Reviews -
	Through his paintings, he seeks to illustrate that he is in dialogue with--instead of separate from--the natural world. Bernd Haussmann's recent paintings - luminous abstractions that take full advantage of the sumptuousness of dripped and layered paint - grapple with the artist's relationship to nature, and what Haussmann describes as "the invisible, the fantasy, the place where you want to be." Whether perceived as pure abstraction, or the peaks and turbulent waves alluded to in his Mountain and Oceans series, the muscularity and gestural quality of his mark-making, and the integrity of surfaces align Haussmann's work with the contemporary heirs of abstract expressionism. The scale of his work emphasizes the message that nature is truly larger than we are. His paintings loom over viewers, conveying a vastness in even the most minimal and abstract representations. Referring to the Jungian theory of collective unconscious, the artist told Molly Enholm of art ltd. Magazine "you see a curved line and you cannot help seeing a mountain...but you have to go beyond that...to create a true connection." Haussmann's work explores the role that we as humans play in the natural world. "When I talk about 'Mountains and Oceans' it might be helpful for the viewer to understand that I am not so much interested in what we see but in what we don't see. I am curious about what is beyond the mountain or underneath the sea or in the space in between. The series of ‘Mountains and Oceans' is not representational of the natural world but the representation of an experience."
	Annie Longley, PAAM, 2011
	Bernd Haussmann: Passages at ChaseYoung Gallery: Boston, MA • January 5-30, 2011 Bernd Haussmann, who is well-known by Boston viewers from his nearly annual solo exhibits at the recently closed Chase Gallery on Newbury Street, presents the latest installation of his ongoing "Mountains and Oceans" series of paintings and works on paper in his second solo exhibit at the new Chase Young Gallery in the SoWa district. The exhibit is anchored by a group of vertically oriented paintings of a roughly four-foot scale. In these works Haussmann uses an expressionistic resist technique to reveal clear color through a layered scrim of milky translucence. In #2020 (Mountains and Oceans) vivid blue accented by yellow peeks through staccato, horizontal groupings of removals. It would be easy to read the white ground - in most of the painting - as negative space, yet the space is replete with the record of mark-making activity, held by the whiteness. Gazing at this painting reminds one of looking a the ocean on a foggy day, gradually making out more and more in the white areas, or of peering through the mark rubbed by a warm hand on a frosty window. Haussmann divides his time between the coastal town of Marblehead, Massachusetts, and the mountainous landscape of western Maine, and the possibility of these multiple readings - a frosty mountain morning, a foggy day on the coast - show the range of his terrain. Mountains and oceans delineate not just a physical but metaphorical continuum in the work. Black and white function as the visual poles of his color language, most emphatically in his work #2115. Side by side are two mountainous forms, one nuanced black against white, the other white against black. These poles are mediated by a soft gray-green in the white mountainous area. The piece offers a gentle meditation on presence and absence. It is not surprising to learn that Haussmanns training as an artist included studies in printmaking; his mark-making vocabulary is reminiscent of lithography, etching, and monoprint. But the painting has a densely rich material vocabulary that printmaking lacks—ranging from smoothness to areas of reticulated juiciness—which gives a physical topography to the images, however subtle.
	Mary Bucci McCoy Art New England Jan/Feb 2011, Vol 32
	Emotionale Konstruktionen. Theodor Werner - Erich Heckel - Bernd Haussmann. Drei Künstlerische Positionen: Bernd Haussmann – abstraktes Tübingen Die Beschäftigung Bernd Haussmanns mit der Universitätsstadt ist privater Natur: In Tübingen geboren und aufgewachsen, seine Ausbildung an der Merz-Akademie Stuttgart absolviert, zog er 1990 an die Ostküste der USA, wo er seither lebt und arbeitet. Besuche bei der Familie, Verwandten und Freunden führen ihn regelmäßig in seine Heimatstadt, mit der er sich sehr eng verbunden fühlt und mit der viele Erinnerungen aus Kindheit und Jugend verknüpft sind. Die Motivation sich mit seinem Herkunftsort künstlerisch auseinander zu setzen, kam eher spontan. Vielfältige Ideen und Gedanken gingen voraus, bis eine formale Konkretisierung des Themas erfolgen konnte. Linie und Farbe sind die Konstituenten der Malerei Haussmanns. Farbe wird in vielen Schichten und Nuancen auf die Leinwand aufgetragen. lneinander verschwimmende Flächen, marginale Schattierungen im Kolorit, lediglich weich abgestimmte Farbkontraste schaffen einen komplexen, lebendigen Farbraum. Diese teils nebligen, körperhaften Farbfelder zeigen eine nur unbestimmte malerische Binnenstruktur und stehen so in Kontrast zu den grafischen Elementen, die im Bild platziert sind. Linien, Flächen, abstrakte Gebilde scheinen in dem informellen Raum zu schweben und in einem unverbrüchlichen Dialog zu stehen. Nicht, dass dadurch die Kunst auf Gegenständlichkeit hin angelegt werden würde. Sie erhält dadurch eine nochmals mehr räumliche, dann aber auch eine zeitliche, vielleicht auch erzählerische Dimension. Bernd Haussmann setzt dies konkret in seinen Tübingen-Bildern um (Abb. 5, 6): Die gedankliche Beschäftigung mit dem Heimatort gibt zunächst Emotionen frei. Bernd Haussmanns Arbeit reicht weit über das rein Visuelle hinaus: Wünsche, Projektionen, Orte, an denen man gerade nicht ist, sich aber danach sehnt, sind oft Ausgangspunkt für die konzeptuellen Projekte des Künstlers. Der Einstieg erfolgt mittels der Linie. Das Verblüffende daran ist, dass sich die Erinnerung an die Stadt dabei formal in den symbolträchtigen Bauwerken, Hölderlinturm und Stiftskirche, verfestigt und weniger aus der einer geistig intellektuellen Motivation heraus oder aus dem Bestreben eine touristische Stadtsilhouette einzufangen. Die Affinität zu Türmen verspürt Bernd Haussmann schon allein aus der eigenen Ateliersituation. Im übertragenen Sinn empfindet er sein Studio im Städtchen Marblehead/ Massachusetts - mit dem Blick zum Hafen, den Booten und dem Atlantischen Ozean in der Ferne - als Turm, in dem er etwas kreiert, was nach Außen wirkt. Der Wahlamerikaner sieht darin eine Parallele zur literarischen Arbeit Hölderlins, dessen Inhalte ihn immer wieder aufs Neue faszinierten. So will Haussmann den Hölderlinturm nicht nur als Ort, an dem der Theologe und Schriftsteller mehr als drei Jahrzehnte in Privatpflege verbrachte, oder neutraler, als ein markanter Punkt innerhalb der Südansicht der Stadt sehen. Für Haussmann repräsentiert der Hölderlinturm vielmehr einen magischen Ort, weit mehr als nur ein mimetisches Wahrzeichen oder eine Gedenkstätte. Zum Tragen kommt hier eine intellektuelle und gleichfalls eine persönliche, das eigene Leben reflektierende Auseinandersetzung, analog, der berühmten Zeilen Hölderlins: Die Linien des Lebens sind verschieden, Wie Wege sind, und wie der Berge Grenzen. Was hier wir sind, kann dort ein Gott ergänzen Mit Harmonien und ewigen Lohn und Frieden. Hölderlinturm und Stiftkirche - auf diese beiden visuellen Symbole beschränkt Haussmann sein Tübingen-Bild und wählt dabei zwei Markenzeichen, in denen er das visuell geistige Erbe, Intellekt und nicht zuletzt seine biografischen Aspekte zusammengeführt sieht. Diese beiden Symbole variiert der Künstler nun zehn Mal, so dass aus anfänglich zwei bis drei geplanten Bildern zu diesem Thema eine Folge entstanden ist (fünf davon schenkte der Künstler dem Stadtmuseum). Immer wieder setzt er von neuem die beiden Sinnbilder auf die Leinwand, mal deutlicher konturiert, mal nur schwer erkennbar. Mal scheinen sie sich in das verschachtelte Häusergewirr einzufügen, mal scheinen sie zu schweben, mal nur schwer erkennbar als spitz zulaufende Farbfläche eingefügt, so dass sie wie ein Farbkörper wirken. Zwischen Hölderlinturm und Stiftskirche, die jeweils variable Anordnung erfahren, weitet sich ein undefinierbarer Raum, der vom Rezipienten zu füllen ist. Der Betrachter selbst muss aus dem unterschiedlich festgelegten Angebot des Künstlers mit seiner Fantasie und seinem Intellekt die Verbindung schaffen und für sich das Bild komplettieren - wiederum eines der signifikantesten Merkmale der abstrakten Kunst. Dieser weite, undefinierte Raum ist bei Haussmann essentiell und kulminiert in der Frage: wie festgelegt und wie offen er ein Kunstwerk gestaltet und wie eng er seinen Vorschlag für den Betrachter und dessen individuelle Erinnerung fasst. Dass spontan eine so umfangreiche Tübingen-Folge entstand, ist für Haussmann nicht verwunderlich, denn er beabsichtigte in einem dialektischen Prozess (er nennt es Problem, Reaktion, Lösung) möglichst viele Facetten seiner Erinnerung zu erforschen. Immer wieder stellte er sich vor die weiße Leinwand und begann mit dem Malen ohne vorgefasstes Konzept. Im Prozess des Malens schält sich die Komposition organisch heraus. Das Auftragen von Linien und Farbschichten wechselt ab, mittels der Linie verfestigt sich die Erinnerung, die dann zur Form werden kann. Ein lebendiger Kommunikationsprozess mit der Leinwand macht die Genese eines Bildes nicht kalkulierbar, lediglich die einzufügenden Symbole sind gesetzt. So lotet der Künstler in den, teils wenig vergleichbaren Varianten die Erinnerung aus, die von den unterschiedlichsten Stimmungen wie Verklärung, Romantisierung, aber auch Enttäuschung getragen ist. Möglichst reichhaltig soll die Erinnerung erforscht und dann festgehalten werden, was sich schließlich in der Bandbreite der Malweise sowie in der unterschiedlichen Farbwahl ausdrückt. Bernd Haussmann reflektiert seinen Malprozess immer wieder aufs Neue und formuliert dazu: “Kunst ist Suchen und Kunst ist für mich Nachdenken mit dem Stift auf Papier oder auf Leinwand, was auch immer. Während des Prozesses des Nachdenkens, des Nachforschens mit der Kunst, ergibt sich ein Dialog mit dem Kunstwerk und dieser Dialog soll offen und transparent sein für den Betrachter. Ich möchte teilen: meine Fragen, meine Überzeugungen, Verwerfungen von Gedanken oder Überarbeitungen von Ideen.” Parallel begleitet das Schaffen Haussmanns die gründliche Auseinandersetzung mit den Ideen Sören Kierkegaards zum Thema Erinnerung und Wiederholung, zwei Bewegungen jedoch in unterschiedliche Richtungen. Wiederholung ist schon einmal da gewesen und abgeschlossen. Dadurch aber, dass sie schon einmal da gewesen ist, wird die Wiederholung zu etwas Neuem, jedoch nie Vollständigem. Will man nun die ausgedehnte Bilderfolge des Künstlers, der zehn Mal aufs Neue vor der leeren Leinwand sich seiner Heimatstadt erinnert, begreifen, so wiederholt er den Entstehungsprozess eines Einzelbildes, das zwar zur Gesamtschau der "Tübingen-Bilder" zu zählen ist, jedoch innerhalb derer ein Solitär, d.h. eine ganz eigene Ausformulierung mit den festgelegten "Signets" von Stiftskirchen- und Hölderlinturm darstellt, eine Wiederholung, die das Neue generiert. Vor diesem Hintergrund begreift man auch, dass Haussmann über lange Zeiträume sich einem Thema widmen und viele Bilder dazu malen kann und dennoch ein äußerst vielfältiges und komplexes Oeuvre entsteht. Bleibt abschließend festzuhalten: Die traditionelle Südansicht Tübingens, seit Ende des 16. Jahrhunderts zuallererst durch Braun und Hogenberg und dann durch Matthias Merian weit und lange verbreitet, bleibt bis ins 21. Jahrhundert wichtiger Ausgangspunkt, um nunmehr weniger eine individuelle Physiognomie der Stadt, ein Porträt zu gestalten, sondern vielmehr die Stadt zu charakterisieren. Motive wie Schloss, Stiftkirche, Hölderlinturm und Neckarbrücke haben his in die Gegenwart ihren Reiz nicht verloren und bilden einen formalen Rahmen für inhaltlich unterschiedliche Aussagen. Theodor Wemer konterkariert das beschauliche Ambiente und komponiert ein nüchtern sachliches Bild. Er nimmt mit seinem Tübingen-Beitrag eine Außenseiterrolle ein, da sich die Malerei in dieser Stadt nie wirklich der Moderne gestellt hat. Ohne in den 1950er Jahren die Kriegszerstörung thematisieren zu müssen, verdeutlicht die Arbeit Erich Heckels noch einmal mehr Kontinuität: im Werk des Künstlers und in der Geschichte der Stadt, in der die Modernismen - neue Architekturen, Formen und Farben - noch nicht angekommen waren. Und schließlich weist die aktuelle Position Bernd Haussmanns, der Blick aus der Ferne mit geografischem und biografischem Abstand, gleichfalls abstrakte Bildaspekte mit den beiden zum Symbol gewordenen Türmen auf. Im Gegensatz zu Werner und Heckel konstruiert Haussmann seine Sicht als einen sehr persönlichen Blick, der über die Abstraktion jenes Motiv aufbricht, das wir landläufig mit Heimat gleichsetzen.
	E Blattner 2010 Ansichten-Einsichten ISBN978-3-941818-01-9
	Painter Says Abstract Works Explore Desire The grass is always greener on the other side. You can’t always get what you want. Beggars can’t be choosers. Even with sayings like these, desire is not a notion people can easily pin down or explain. Maybe it’s not something anyone is ever supposed to wrap up succinctly. Bernd Haussmann’s new show, Mountains and Oceans, now hanging at Tayloe Piggott Gallery, uncovers desire in places others might not think to look. The 16 paintings range from $1,200 to $11,000. The show’s title has misled many to think Haussmann is attempting a more concrete, representational approach to painting than in the past, but this collection is perhaps his “most abstract yet.” “The work is about the invisible, the fantasy, the place where you want to be,” the German-born artist said. Haussmann has been honing his craft for more than 30 years, including his doodlings as a budding child artist. His first showing in Jackson in 2008 was the only one before this, though Haussmann visited Jackson decades ago and has always had a “romantic and sentimental feeling about the area.” While the majority of his shows take place on the coasts, he is “always curious about the areas in between.” Splitting his time between the north shore of Massachusetts and western Maine, Haussmann is surrounded with artistic inspiration. There he maintains respect for the natural world that his parents helped him cultivate at an early age, and he weaves it into his work. This exhibition as a whole reflects and encompasses that developing dialogue between artist and nature. “My key curiosity is how the natural environment responds to my work,” Haussmann said. Painting “what’s not there” necessitates this constant inquiry and interchange. “I always like to approach one series from as many different angles as I can,” he said. “I like to expose myself to different materials and surfaces because they sometimes trigger new experiences.” Tayloe Piggott, gallery owner and curator, reaffirms that Haussmann’s openness successfully conveys nature realistically and indefinitely. “There are several paintings that are really muscular, while others evoke a stillness, which is a real truth of nature. That connection we have with nature is not always quiet, and he’s take that to an incredible place with this work.” In an amalgam of water-based and oil-based paints and ink on both paper and acrylic glass, the artist creates depth, severity and calm among just a few shades. Indigo and burnt orange and deep lilac work together and against one another within the same painting and from works on opposite sides of the gallery, to pull the entire environment in. “This new body of work possesses the essence of familiarity, although still a very abstract unconsciousness,” Piggott said. While certain lines, shadows and connections seem more deliberate than others, Haussmann justifies each feature. “Every brush stroke leads to the next,” Haussmann said. “Every thought leads to a new thought.” “Haussmann relates this assertion to observing his art, as well, for extending the mind beyond that first thought, impression or idea potentially leads to wondering what isn’t right in front of you. “If you see something that looks like a mountain, continue to look beyond it, behind it, or within yourself,” he said. “My desire is to make people a little more critical, more aware, or more sensitive to what they see.” Thus, Mountains and Oceans is not meant at all to satisfy, at least, not in the traditional sense of the word. Rather, Haussmann’s intentions are to interest, engage and push the viewer to see what isn’t there and uncover what is missing.
	Caitlin Clark, 2010
	In this newest body of work, Mountains & Oceans, Bernd explores the fleeting and illusive area between abstraction and object - the transom between what we are presented with and what we perceive. As every painting is changed by the experiences of both artist and viewer, so this newest work emerges only after a meeting, in equal parts, of both creator and audience. The slightest angle of paint, the faintest line of the brush begin to conjure memories and at once abstraction is transformed into allegory. In a moment of visual alchemy; Mountains and Oceans appear. At their most basic, these paintings are distilled and meditative explorations of line. Line has always been salient in the work of Bernd Haussmann, as he bends and twists them into his iconographic swirls and organic gestures. But in this work they are pushed even further, they begin to narrate and to express, and at once 'the line' becomes a location. Living and creating at his two studios, one in a seaside town in Massachusetts and one within the mountains of central Maine, Haussmann could not escape the influence of these great forces. Endlessly inspired by every aspect of the natural world, Haussmann's choice to depict these places, nature's two most extreme manifestations, is no surprise.
	Jane S. Young, Chase Gallery, September 2009
	“Painting is a process, like life is a process, putting substance into a conversation-creating a dialogue-trying to make it interesting…it is all a process.” Hidden within the simplicity of this statement lies the core of Bernd Haussmann’s artistic approach: dialogue, process and conversation. His work stems from nature, but he is not interested in depicting tame or sanitized pictures of the environment, rather he paints abstract visions hoping to influence how his audience views their natural surroundings. German-born Haussmann first experienced nature as a small child with his parents, whom he credits for teaching him to understand the reciprocal relationship between man and nature. The painter recalls a lesson taught long ago by his father, “to destroy an anthill doesn’t simply amount to a few dead ants, but rather altars the environment of the forest,” adding that “today a lot of people separate themselves from nature–placing themselves above or on top of [nature]–that doesn’t make any sense to me.” Shifting this idea of personal responsibility and intertwined fate to a global scale–and to a world where we have achieved the ability to decimate the planet with the push of a button–it is easy to understand his concerns. This apprehension provides a key incentive to continue his work. Haussmann’s large-scale paintings (ranging up to 8’ x 12’) carry a physical presence, allowing the viewer to become immersed into the environment they create. Evoking the meditative quality similar to Japanese Zen monochrome landscape paintings, Haussmann’s recent series, “Mountains and Oceans,” contrast strokes of vivid colors against a stark white ground that easily transitions to signify water, earth and sky, further implying their interconnectedness. The vertical format of some of these works heightens that association, with a rising perspective, and the impact that every brushstroke has on the final composition. It is his process, as much as the landscape, that we are able to read in these paintings. There are multiple dichotomies in Haussmann’s work–man/nature, micro/macro, light/dark, and intimate/aloof–but it is not so much the opposition that intrigues Haussman, but rather the fact that these differences ultimately derive from a single origin. And he explores these ideas through a variety of techniques, some consisting of thin glazes of paint that he allows to drip down the canvas (or paper, aluminum or Plexiglas), while others bear multiple layers of pigment, built up and scraped away, implying the natural cycles of growth and decay. In Untitled (1164), he establishes a soft background of cool-tinted hues interrupted by strident crimson and charcoal scrawls. It would be too easy to describe this as simply the interruption of nature by the intrusion of man, instead it urges us to consider how these two elements reflect upon and impact one another. The artist also refers to Jungian theories of the collective unconscious, where the use of archetypal symbols strike a deep resonating chord in the human psyche to evoke an almost physical reaction from the viewer. “You see a curved line and you cannot help seeing a mountain… but you have to go beyond that… to create a true connection.” And it is this series of connections that allows Haussmann’s work to linger in your memory long after viewing it, like a psychic after-image, it leaves an imprint on the mind’s eye. New and recent paintings by Bernd Haussmann will be featured at Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon, September 3–26, 2009; Gebert Contemporary at the Railyard, Santa Fe, NM, November 27–December 26, 2009; Goethe-Institut, Boston, MA, September 30 – October 29, 2009 and Chase Gallery, Boston, MA, October 2009.
	Molly Enholm, art ltd. September 2009
	Abstract artist Bernd Haussmann assimilates the concept of Umwelt* "subjective universe," in his work. For him, the subjective universe is both within and without, not so much a physical space, but a spirit and soul connection with the elements that define our lives and thus form our very existence. The artist accordingly develops an organic abstraction, consistently exploring the beginnings of the world and nature. For Haussmann, Umwelt comprises two distinct entities: a geographical-biographical component in the literal sense and a metaphorical abstraction. He devotes his creativity to this metaphorical abstraction and accordingly develops an organic abstraction, consistently exploring the beginnings of the natural world. As a result his paintings affect both the artist and observer in three distinct ways: Integrative: Because we are all living beings on this planet and therefore invariably linked to its natural resources, there is an instinctual integration with nature itself. Haussmannís goal is for us to become cognizant of the basis of our livelihood and obligation to guard this natural environment for the benefit of future generations. Individual Identification: In his work Haussmann establishes his identity through the manifestation of his personal Umwelt with the hope to inspire the observer to recognize his or her own identity by virtue of revealing to them connections with their own, individual Umwelt. Authentic: For Haussmann, Umwelt signifies a form of authenticity, an obligation for the artist to be genuine - true, faithful and honest. Authenticity relates to both his relationship with Umwelt and to the manifestation of his art. A prerequisite for creating authentic art work is to remain alert, to be tuned into the role humans play in changing the world and to maintain a sensibility with regards to those changes. As Haussmann follows his path as an artist he ultimately transcends Umwelt into other subjective environments: His intention is to change the everyday life of his audience and thereby positively affect our biological - natural environment.
	Dr. Ulrich Haegele, Professor for Media Studies, 2008
	Bernd Haussmann has been featured as one of the top ten artists showing in Atlanta by Art News International. "So the whole world stands back and watches in amazement as Atlanta's new and powerful populace breaks out their iPhones to transfer funds to these incredible artists as they beautify those ultramodern walls of the future.
	Alexus Maintenon, Art News International, September 2007
	BERND HAUSSMANN RECOLLECT Few artists have the courage to begin every work of art on a clean slate, with no preliminary plan whatsoever. Fewer still can do so and maintain total integrity. Bernd Haussmann faces the nothingness that is blank canvas, wood, metal, or other surfaces, and listens to his thoughts until a direction appears in his mind. Then he picks up his brush, and a subtle conversation begins. “As people get to know each other by talking,” he says, “I get to know the painting by painting it.” At a certain point, the dialog resolves itself and a work of art is revealed as a record of that process. Haussmann builds up layers that hint at something beneath the surface. That something may be psychological, or may go even deeper and allude to eternal verities. Various forms appear, some positioned as color fields that organize the composition and some looped organically like recurring memories. Staccato blips underscore the electric chirr and crackle of contemporary consciousness that brings the work alive. As Haussmann proceeds, the dialog is widened to include the eventual viewer. The painting becomes accessible in the sense that it furnishes suggestions and invites participation. “There is always an underlying principle that I want to share with you,” he says. “What you make of it depends on what information I put into the painting. This is important for the way I look at art or life in general. It doesn’t necessarily mean I know the truth, but I make my doubts and questions and my very strong opinions visible – almost surgically bare, if one looks closely. The more information and energy I put into the painting, the more it will resonate with the viewer. Painting, to me, is an energy exchange as well as a communication. A lot of people feel some connection when they look at my art.” Haussmann makes no distinction between his life and his art. “I am who I am,” he says, “and that is what I paint. I live my art. Art is a lifestyle – it is what I believe, and it defines me even as I create it. What is important to me is sharing my thoughts and beliefs, and keeping an eye on the cultural and political and social environment as our earth progresses.” The physical environment is a matter of intense concern as well. Haussmann divides his time between the Boston area and rural Maine, where he contributes to the building of a nature preserve and creates environmental sculptures. His paintings, though rigorously abstract, reflect that same dedication. They are saturated with the atmosphere of the natural world. “I want to show you the fragile environment, the intensity of connection that you experience when you go outdoors,” says Haussmann. “I hope to make people more sensitive, more aware, more critical of the world that surrounds us.” His paintings shimmer in silence while the conversation that produced them continues, communicating many shades and nuances of information to each person who pauses to interact with them.
	Suzanne Deats, Maine, Spring 2006
	… “Painting is not about what you see, it is about what you don’t see”, he says. Such thought is ripe for angst-ridden expression, yet Haussmann’s paintings exude serenity and provide a space for quiet reflection. …
	Debbie Hagan, Art New England, Winter 2003
	… Several of the Open Heart series are inspired and their marks, a snakey green weed growing from right to left, a punctured white/blue oval shape and red undulating bands, resemble things we've seen while remaining nothing but themselves. … These Open Hearts have an affinity with Robert Motherwell's spontaneous ink drawings, the plant drawings of Joseph Beuys and Cy Twombley's collages. Not bad company to keep.
	William Corbett, artsMEDIA, Summer 2002
	… More than a few paragraphs in a book, each painting really is like dipping your foot now and again in a stream: It may be the same stream, but it's a new experience each time. …
	Cate McQuaid, Boston Globe, 7/19/2002
	… The artist belongs in the lineage of abstract expressionists such as Robert Rauschenberg and Willem de Kooning, who emblazoned their souls on canvas with paintbrushes. …
	Cate McQuaid, Boston Globe, 10/26/2001
	… Haussmann’s formal painterly abilities are as powerful on wood, steel, canvas, plaster or paper.
	Eileen Kennedy, artsMEDIA, Spring 2000
	… The single blade of grass in his paintings holds the energy of the human torso. The collage element in his work represents the integration of the human body. … The duality of the forms calls to mind the separate, yet intimately linked relationship of humans and nature, passion and order, life and death. …
	Barbara O'Brien, 1999
	Haussmann’s pieces provide a balm … This artist has a lexicon of images for his philosophies, which he draws with a painterly hand. … They stand amid layers of pale paint like newborn sprouts, arguing against hope that not everything on earth is going to hell in a handbasket.
	Cate McQuaid, Boston Globe, 9/25/1997
	Bernd Haussmann uses an alphabet of icons to spell out visceral messages. … The artist makes no proclamations here, just painterly intimations of wholeness and peace – things, after all, so fragile and subtle that a proclamation would chase them away.
	Cate McQuaid, Boston Globe, 8/14/1997