Herakut

Herakut is a German duo comprised of Hera and Akut. They combine traditional techniques with spray painting in a strange mixture combining figurative painting, impressionism, magical realism, decadent strokes and storytelling to depict mythological creatures and dark comedic scenes. These images often correlate to present day political injustice and social awareness issues, and are described as “sensuous, savage, and dualistic.” by Herakut on their website. All this is even more explicit with the texts accompanying the artworks. They are suggestive texts that usually contour incomplete stories and that are open to the imagination of the viewer, but at the same time they are texts with a strong critical cover of the false naivety of the children which they paint. Hera (Jasmin Siddiq) was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1981, while Akut (Falk Lehman) was born in Schmalkalden, Germany in 1977. Both artists went on to study visual communications and graphic design. Hera at the University of Applied Sciences in Weisbaden and Akut at the Bauhaus University in Weimar. The duo’s first collaboration was in 2004 at an Urban Art Festival Sevilla in Spain. Herakut paint massive murals and smaller works on canvas and paper. Their murals can be seen globally, ranging from Kathmandu to Melbourne. Both members of Herakut live and work in Schmalkalden, Germany.