Enno Hallek has joined these uniform elements into winding, billowing shapes, impressed with a regularity and consistency that could have been conceived by a strict classicist or created by a consequent concretist. Yet no, for in his work the shapes twist and the colours strut about, filled as it were by a drive to tell tales – tendencies that lead the works beyond all normal classical bounds. The spirit level ought to be serviceable as a mental picture for all standards. But in those pictures where he moves past such tools, billowing colours swell into something akin to landscapes, into eternities which transcend the strictures of a plumb line or a horizon to create an unusual, floating unbalance. Some sort of aesthetic lust is inherent in Enno Hallek’s pictures, one which cannot be contained by boundaries or norms.
      The dictionary of the new Swedish National Encyclopaedia defines 'norm' as "a (generally accepted) rule for action and thought," a fairly clear way of describing what Enno Hallek’s pictures are not. But any attempt to describe what they are quickly proves problematic, for are they paintings? Yes, but ... Well, sculptures then? Of course, however ... All tries by the artist to create some sort of predetermined concept are overthrown by his curiosity and exploratory zest.
     In an attempt not to get caught up in unnecessary stabs at definition, I will instead try to 'listen' to the pictures as if they were music, to seek their 'sound'. Are they suitable compositions for accordion or a concert grand, are they songs or bebop, rock or dance band music? And the answer is that they are all and none!
     A first simile is in order. The American hit songs and show melodies that constitute the basis for endless jazz improvisations are still recognised by those who have heard the originals. When Lester Young played a solo on I Got Rhythm, it was recognised even if the tone sequence did not match the original! People seek similarities even when they are obscured. Or they create them, as when Enno Hallek takes "an individualised, representational colour" and causes a complicated story rich in associations to grow in contrast to a shape which can be rather simple.
     Further similes occur. The same anti-classical stand as Enno Hallek professes can be found in many composers. The traditional composition rules were rescinded when Charles Ives began to mix keys indiscriminately. And the boundaries between high and low, kitsch and art similarly lost importance, as shown in the headstrong piano music by Eric Satie. The result was a new freshness, a new life, exemplified by Henry Cowell's radical transformation of the concert grand's tonal world by preparing its strings using nuts and bolts. The possibilities that opened the gate for other types of expressions were not discovered in defiance of tradition, but outside it. This provided new space for personality in music, as in art, and personality is always something that departs from the 'normal'.
     Enno Hallek's art is personal and recognisable. It cannot be imitated without becoming ingratiating, but it can perform as when the story line is such that the norms no longer can sustain it. Humans most certainly own the capacity for seeking meaning in everything, to interpret, read into, translate images into recognisable forms, as when colour blotches become figures and landscapes. But in order to awaken this urge, the artist must deviate and depart from the norm. Only then are the senses of the observer or the listener awakened! Only then and specifically to avoid ennui!
      It is vital to retain one' s authenticity. Enno Hallek's pictures have always transcended boundaries and contradicted what is thought correct. In both sculpture and painting, colour has been the carrying and story-telling element. Always there has been the revolt against the prescribed, placing sensuality, humour, warmth and rushing creative power in opposition to rationality. He lets colour increase itself, conjuring skies, water, meadows, landscapes and sunsets to our senses. It is as Herbert Marcuse once said: "The inner logic of a work of art is aimed at the creation of another sensibility, a different sensuality, one which defies that reason and sensualism that is embodied by the ruling social institutions."

Thomas Millroth
(translation by Sven H.E. Borei)