Portraits of Community: One-word Stories
An exhibition of artworks by American artist-in-residence Jason Hanson
Viewing Hours
Friday, 21 April 2023, 5 - 10 PM
Saturday, 22 April 2023, 9 AM - 4 PM
Sunday, 23 April 2023, 9 AM - 4 PM
Meet the artist at the Opening Reception Friday night 5-10 PM.
Drinks and nibbles provided
The community shines in the portraits of American artist-in-residence Jason Hanson (they/them). They painted the people of Whakatāne and surrounding areas during their three month painting residency soaking in the texture of Aotearoa.
Jason is an artist who immerses themself in the community of a place and paints portraits of the people who cross their path. Jason’s work is bold, colorful, and evokes big feelings from the viewer. Their abstract style captures both the essence of the subject as well as likeness.
It took nearly dying in a motorcycle accident to get art school drop-out Jason Hanson to paint again. After regaining the ability to walk and most of the function in their hands, they found themself in an empty art studio after quitting a 20-year career in tech. They knew they had to get the dreams they were having onto canvas before they consumed them.
What evolved over the coming years was hundreds of portraits of people and a style that is uniquely Jason’s. The power and energy of abstract splatter paintings combined with the skill of portraiture on one canvas must be experienced in person to take in.
In a world where we consume most art through our tiny screens, actually seeing and touching (yes, Jason encourages you to touch the work) is becoming a novel way to engage with art. This is a show you have to see in person to really take in.
Jason’s edge as an artist is always to surrender more. The more they surrender to be used by source, the more messages from source flow through them.
Oftentimes, they don’t know why they choose the colors they do or make the marks they make until much later when the work is viewed. Not until the art is viewed by the potential soulmate collector is the work completely done. The stories people share about what they see in the work is when Jason really learns the reasons why they painted the way they did.
