David Hauptschein
Artist Playwright Screenwriter


Echo Mutation
Echo Mutation Reception Opening
Chicago Grand Gallery
Friday, April 4 2025
6:00 - 10:00 pm
2842 W. Chicago Gallery
I am deliriously happy to be participating in a 3-person show with fellow artists Michelle Stone and Jeff Crisman at the fabulous Chicago Grand Gallery!
It will explore how intuitive art-making can lead to unexpected transformations. Alicja Seledec curates the show in collaboration with Luna Prysiazhniuk, and it features three multitalented Chicago-based artists.
The exhibition highlights the work of Michelle Stone, Jeff Crisman, and David Hauptschein. Michelle’s art revolves around a unique circular process that blends painting, sculpture, and photography. She creates sculptures from acrylic plastic, then photographs and transforms these images into new paintings, seamlessly shifting between these different media. Jeff’s artistic practice is driven by an intuitive exploration of the natural world and the mutability of forms. His work speaks to the fragility of nature and the importance of living in harmony and awe. Taking commands only from the voice in the back of his head, David, who instinctively keys into the absurd, creates dramatic digital pictures that push boundaries and cause double-takes.
Don’t miss this opportunity to immerse yourself in the creative process and celebrate transformation through art. We invite you to experience the dynamic works of these artists and engage in meaningful conversations about the ever-changing nature of self and creation. The show will be on display in exhibition through May 4th.
In Art we trust.






Now Streaming
A feature film directed by Julio Maria Martino
Screenplay by David Hauptschein
TUBI: https://bit.ly/43ugu7S
AMAZON: https://bit.ly/437i8wo
GOOGLE PLAY: https://bit.ly/43qnVwH
YOUTUBE MOVIES: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbypNtjZxI4
AMAZON (UK): https://watch.amazon.co.uk/detail?gti=amzn1.dv.gti.2de03528-849b-447b-9ed0-d6bedb95f8f9&ref_=atv_dp_share_mv&r=web
VUDU: https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/details/Country-of-Hotels/2350076
Distributed by Terror Films
Between 1973 and 1978, I experimented obsessively with color photography, in an attempt to make photographic paintings, or what today would be called digital paintings. Of course this was long before the advent of the digital era and Photoshop. Using everything from trick lenses to chemical manipulation, I tried to make the medium more plastic. I suppose I really wanted to be a painter who used photography and not a photographer.
All of the pictures in this volume stem from those analog originals which had been languishing at the bottom of my closet since 1978. In some cases the raw material is still recognizable, and in others, it has evolved into something never before seen. Regarding the picture of my father on the cover, it came from a photo shoot I was compelled to do for my odious commercial photography class at PCA. If I could travel back in time 47 years and show the current version of this picture to my teacher, I’m pretty sure he would flunk me.
Signed copies are $30 (plus $5 for US shipping). Contact David at hauptschein@ameritech.net.





This collection of five mind-bending page-turners by David Hauptschein is hard to put down. An Alchemy of Flesh and Other Plays runs the theatrical gamut, from crooked humor to suspense and paranoia. Hauptschein’s works lie somewhere between the avant-garde and the traditional, on the border between the real and the surreal. Meet intriguing characters like romantic stalker Louis Capello and his blood brother Darryl, a hopeless hypochondriac; and Lulu, Wes’ elusive girlfriend, who speaks her own cryptic brand of English. The plays in this book, which have been produced in Chicago; New York; London; Manchester, England; and Edinburgh, Scotland; are: An Alchemy of Flesh; The Persecution of Arnold Petch; The Gurney; The Ballad of Johnny 5 Star; and Breakdown and Out.
383 pages of reading (or acting) pleasure.
Signed copies are $20 (plus $5 for US shipping).
Contact David at hauptschein@ameritech.net.
Volume 1 of David's two-volume collection of plays, "When the Walls Have Ears and Other Plays," has finally been published! The book contains five plays which have been produced in Chicago; London; Edinborough, Scotland; and elsewhere. The contents of this volume are: When the Walls Have Ears, The Playactor, Trance, In Memory of Edgar Lutzen, and CAST; with a bonus introduction by director Julio Maria Martino.
The book is beautifully printed on high-quality paper. 407 pages of reading (or acting) pleasure! A personally inscribed copy can be yours for only $20 plus $5 shipping and handling. This first limited edition is sure to become a collector's item, so act now. Contact David at hauptschein@ameritech.net.
For those of you who are tired of living in cyberspace, then David’s new book Altered Ego: Self-Portraits is the antidote you’ve been craving. Nothing can replace the tactile experience of holding a real-life, three-dimensional book. It has heft – you can cradle it in your lap, flip through the pages, even sniff it. Best of all, the cover of Altered Ego is cool and velvety to the touch. Then of course there are the visual delights: 108 of David’s digitally painted self-portraits, carefully sequenced and beautifully reproduced.
The book is $30 + $5 shipping and handling in the U.S. If you would like to purchase a copy, please contact David at hauptschein@ameritech.net.
The Selves Portrait: Self-Portraits, book, was released on Friday, September 15, 2023. Including 115 images from David Hauptschein. The pictures are all digitally altered photographs and are available as pigment prints.
Limited editions of the book are still available at $30 plus $5.00 shipping. However, if you order more than one copy, shipping is free. Payment can be made by Zelle, PayPal, personal check, or cash. please contact David at hauptschein@ameritech.net.
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