Duane Hanson (1925-1996)
The first artist I will be discussing is Duane Hanson. Hanson is currently the subject of the dissertation I am writing, and so he's the perfect artist for me to begin my blog.
In my humble opinion, Hanson is one of the great American artists of the late-20th century, but also one of the most neglected and underrated. His work consists mainly of hyper-realist sculptures made of autobody filler, polychromed in oil and made to look as life like as possible. Hanson used the people around him to create full-body casts that he would dress and paint in incredible detail as to form a sculpture as true to life as humanly possible. Time and time again audiences have mistaken Hanson's sculptures for reality, even going as far as to ask them questions. To see this as a gimmick or a hook is to do Hanson a dis-service though because his work is not only beautifully crafted, but also an accurate and sometimes shocking image of American society.
No comments:
Post a Comment