The perfect man


By Beatriz Juarez
My latest crush happened in a matter of seconds—five to be exact. I was browsing around my local bookstore when I suddenly noticed him. He was charming, elegant and poised in an intoxicating insouciant British sort of way. Cover boy material, definitely! Which, is what he was. Yes, my latest infatuation was the cover illustration on Justin Pollard’s book
The Interesting Bits. I’ve always loved illustrations and I find it immensely entertaining chatting with the masterminds behind these creations. It turns out that Martin Haake was the talented artist behind this captivating illustration. I bought the book and went home to google him. Haake was born in Germany and studied Communication at The University of Arts in Berlin. He’s lived in Hamburg and London but now calls Berlin home. His clients are impressive:
Vanity Fair,
The New York Times,
Playboy, Penguin Books and Yahoo just to name a few. Surrealists and DADA artists influence him, as well as illustrations from children’s books from the 1950’s. For inspiration, he also flips through old magazines and consumer catalogues from the former GDR/East Germany from the ‘60s and ‘70s that he finds in flee markets. Haake says his “cut-and-paste” style allows him to create “imperfect” images. “If some of my illustrations get too perfect, I have to draw them again,” he tells me. (Yes, I tracked him down and sent him a fan note!) “It’s very important for me to keep a certain kind of naïveté in my work because I feel there is a lot of beauty in failed drawings.” A man who appreciates flawed beauty—no wonder he’s my new artistic crush. If you’re intrigued …
check out his work at www.martinhaake.de