Harry Hansen
1942 – 2013
Artist’s Statement
I have always been a landscape painter. My earliest artistic thinking—I recognized myself as an artist as early as age nine—revolved around the sky, trees, distant land forms, and the rural landscape in general. All this occurred despite the fact that I was raised in the Chicago area—hardly a conducive environment for a would-be landscape painter. A boyhood vacation experience in northern Wisconsin, however, exposed me to the kind of primeval landscape that really spoke to me as an artist. I have been seeking that landscape ever since.
The traditions and the disciplines of transparent watercolor have always challenged me. The dichotomy implicit in all realistic painting is particularly apparent in watercolor. The image can be spacious, even grandiose in the realist tradition; however, a watercolor is always a piece of paper with marks on it. A good watercolor, for me, is always an abstract surface as well as an interesting illusion. These two seemingly opposite qualities must function together if a watercolor is to work well.
Travel is important to the development of my ideas. Most of my recent paintings are a result of travels in South Carolina, Western North Carolina, Maine, and the Maritimes of Canada. Travel at different times of year and different times of day to the same locations is critical. My landscapes are as much about a specific moment as they are about a location. I find myself thinking about painting when I am walking or fishing, particularly very early in the morning or at dusk. It is, by far, the most interesting time of day. The light can change the landscape completely in just a few minutes. I very often paint from memories of specific moments. There is no narrative, little symbolism other than a very personal vocabulary, just the fleeting moments etched in my mind.
This written statement reinforces my view that the most elemental aspects of painting often does not lend themselves to verbal analysis. The essence of my paintings is gained from looking at them. If I could express these ideas in words, I would write poetry.
