First Time in Almost 30 Years to Collect a Piece of Bay Area Art History
Following decades of acquisitions by major art museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Hirshhorn Museum, "Hardy Hanson: There Are Things to Come" at Michelle Thomas Fine Art Gallery in San Francisco presents the first opportunity to collect Hanson's work in almost 30 years.
SAN FRANCISCO, March 18, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ --
"Hardy Hanson: There Are Things to Come"
April 6?July 10, 2024
Opening Reception and Silent Auction: Saturday, April 6, 6-10pm
michellethomasfineart.com/hardyhanson
Michelle Thomas Fine Art Gallery + Studio is pleased to present "Hardy Hanson: There Are Things to Come", an exhibition of 13 large-scale assemblage artworks by beloved Bay Area artist Hardy Hanson. Following decades of acquisitions by major art museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Hirshhorn Museum, "There Are Things to Come" presents the first opportunity to collect Hanson's work in almost 30 years.
The 13 artworks in this exhibition reflect the beginning of a distinct period of Hanson's work in which he devised a new format of large-scale, vertical and architectural constructions he called "low relief." Hanson meticulously organized everyday, mundane elements into a grid and enclosed them within bespoke frameworks that he constructed and painted himself. Each work is a meditative, sensory expression of what Hanson referred to as the "physically intangible but omnipresent social fabric."
"It is for me," Hanson once explained, "a fusion of micro elements that address macro themes... We live with ambiguity and contradiction, hard and soft, aggressive and passive. I'd like it if people felt attracted but confronted as well. It's fine if you're perplexed. The important thing is that you are somehow stimulated and engaged."
In "To Reason, To Sleep", Hanson used hundreds of miniature geared mechanisms from small metal windup toys and wove nylon cording through each. In the micro, these mechanisms are individual components residing in their own defined space; in the macro, they become cogs in a greater machine, disappearing almost altogether.
Over time, Hanson's reliefs gave way to intensive color studies that probed the nature of light, volume, material, and the natural world. In "Night Sky (Nocturne)", Hanson applied hundreds of seemingly microscopic pinheads in metallic hues to a painted foam canvas, producing a pointillist effect in which shadow, reflectivity, and subtle dimensionality form a vision of the night sky. The viewer is encouraged to slowly surrender to a peripheral visual experience that reveals new paths and shapes. The full experience of these works culminates in a meditative state.
Artist Irving Petlin described Hanson's work in 2012 as an expression of "the foibles and cruelty of oppressive states in the war-making, corruption, and indifference to growing ecological calamity... His art speaks more than ever. The world will catch up with him and the prophecy of his work."
"Hardy Hanson: There Are Things to Come" will open on April 6 with a one-time only silent auction that offers an equitable opportunity to acquire his work before it becomes available for direct purchase. Bidding will conclude at 9 pm and recipients will be notified the following hour. Original etchings and lithographs by Hanson will also be available for purchase in the lower level gallery.
Please contact Michelle Thomas Fine Art Gallery + Studio for further sales inquiries.
About Hardy Hanson
Harold Hardeman Hanson, lovingly dubbed "Hardy" by his family, was born in Long Beach, California in 1935. Hanson began his education studying graphic design at Long Beach City College before transferring in 1958 to focus on fine art at UCLA, later completing his education at Yale University in 1961. After graduating, Hanson settled with his wife, Ruth, in Santa Monica where he began teaching fine art at UCLA and other Los Angeles colleges. In 1969, he moved with his family to Santa Cruz and held an esteemed professorship at UCSC for 25 years until his retirement in 1994. Hanson and Ruth's former home and garden in Santa Cruz was a curated and custom-made exploration of their dreams, passions and many interests and to this day is the stuff of legends among their circle.
michellethomasfineart.com/hardyhanson
About Michelle Thomas Fine Art Gallery + Studio
Michelle Thomas Fine Art Gallery + Studio sits at the intersection of Noe Valley, the Mission, and Bernal Heights at 40 29th Street, San Francisco. Michelle Thomas compliments its robust program of emerging artists with established Bay Area icons, growing perspectives and sparking dialogue on cultural intersections, margin experiences, and social collisions. Michelle Thomas takes applications for studio residency from emerging artists on a rolling basis.
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SOURCE Michelle Thomas Fine Art Gallery + Studio
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