Grant Haffner: Seeing Past the East End Powerlines

Over the last six years, Grant Haffner has become a familiar name in the local art scene.

Haffner has helped produce and curate numerous exhibitions and events as a founding member of the Bonac Tonic art collective, and his colorful landscapes featuring East End roads and power lines continue to be in high demand.

Though he currently lives in North Haven with his wife Cassandra, the 32-year-old artist spent his formative years in Springs, and Bonac Tonic has made something of a home base for its shows.

“I’m totally raised in Springs,” Haffner said, explaining that he grew up on Talmage Farm Lane. Haffner’s father, an architect, was always at his drawing table and it inspired him as a boy. “I learned to really enjoy drawing what I looked at,” he said, noting that his father gave him a copy of the book Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain and his work is still influenced by it.

Haffner describes his paintings as contemporary landscape with a particular focus on road scenes. “I like a line,” he said, pointing out that at first his signature power lines were a way to create dynamic perspective in the work. “The power lines would bisect the sky,” Haffner said.

Early on in his artistic career, Haffner painted stripes, much like color field painters Kenneth Noland or Gene Davis, but at age 24, during his one year studying at School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, he became determined to paint landscapes.

“I always wanted to do landscape,” Haffner said. In fact, he moved back to Springs to begin painting en plein air in the evenings after work. “I had this idea of doing road paintings,” the artist said, pointing out that he was a fan of Jack Kerouac.

While Haffner’s paintings can be categorized as landscape, the canvases often include an array of bright colors and a strong sense of forward propulsion that sets them apart from the quiet, bucolic vistas most identified with the style.

“My dad helped me realize landscapes are boring,” he said. “You have to make sure there’s something in the foreground,” Haffner said as he describes the reason for the power lines, which feature prominently in so much of his work. He said the man-made elements add depth and give the work a unique perspective.

Today, Haffner doesn’t do a lot of painting outdoors, though the artist still cruises area highways and byways to capture reference shots. “My plein air time is to go out and take some photos,” Haffner said. “You do have to spend time in nature to make an interpretation of it,” he said, noting that he looks for scenes that are iconic locally. “I tend to paint where I’m at,” Haffner said.

Grant Haffner’s work is currently on display at the ’s "Art on the Edge: The New Contemporary" in East Hampton Village. The exhibition will be up until Aug. 1.

Bonac Tonic returns to Ashawagh Hall on July 30 with "A Midsummer’s Nightmare," featuring paintings by Haffner and a select group of artists, including his sister and longtime artistic partner in crime Carly Haffner.