My paintings are investigations into the dialogue and tensions between opposites: between the curved and the linear, liquidity and solidity, male/female, the natural and the man-made, qualities found both in coastal towns and the shapes of American states. Above all, my paintings explore the different realities of information and imagination, the tensions between what inspires and drives the paintings, the communication of ideas, and the uncertainties and excitement of the painting process. Anselm Kiefer succinctly refers to this dilemma in the forward to ‘Il Mistero de Cattedrell’: ‘If there is too much order, it is dead; if there is too much chaos, it doesn’t cohere. I’m continually negotiating between these two extremes.’
In ‘Penzance 4’, the canvas is split centrally and horizontally; the symmetry and balance is used to reflect the calm of a balmy summer’s day. In contrast, ‘City of Glass 1’ is deliberately asymmetrical, with Manhattan isolated on the extreme right and surrounded by ocean, emphasizing its shape and status as an island and subverting ‘map-truth’. This is the first painting in a series inspired by Paul Auster’s ‘New York Trilogy’. This is a significant, necessary, exciting shift in my work, making paintings from another art-form. Images and ideas are flying off the page.
Ashley Hanson Dec 2011
All images © 2011 Ashley Hanson. All rights reserved.