stephen hansen
as an artist i am not an explorer of the human condition,
so much as a hapless tourist, making snapshots of whatever strikes my fancy.
i work primarily in paper mache, the appeal of which is twofold.
first, it is fast enough that i can try out ideas without any sense of commitment.
secondly, it is a material so inherently humble that i can claim to make “cultural icons” or
“distilled social observations” with out feeling too pretentious.
stylistically, i think of my work as lifelike rater than realistic,
a choice made out of a desire to represent ideas rater than individuals.
i make sculptures with the idea that it should both attract and communicate.
towards that end, i try to create art that is intellectually accessible and aesthetically
seductive. i approach my workday as though i were director of a small reparatory company,
with a group of actors that i costume and coerce into the character in the story i want to tell.
they tend toward overacting.
