Friday, April 01, 2011

For Beams and Struts,Artist Feature. Attn: TJ Dawe

This is cribbed from notes written today where I am trying to introduce myself and my work for a small feature on the great and mighty group site, "beams and struts" I have been asked by Mr.TJ Dawe to do so. I will attempt to do this without lapsing into Third Person or referring to myself as "the Artist" or "Failed Puppeteer turned Painter". There will be many corrections.

Andrew "Shay" Hahn


When I look back through all the notes scribbled daily in sketchbooks or conversations I've had about my work, I've settled on the fact that my approach to painting is that of a diarist. My mood dictates what I'm going to do, I know that my sense of humour figures prominently in my work, that I enjoy the absurd, the juxtaposition of objects and working in a series, over time these elements have become where I start when I sit down to draw and hopefully I end up with a few pages of sketches that I can take to the easel to try.


I strongly believe that the only rules for my work are that there are no rules. Every idea is a good idea, no matter how strange (Deep Sea Diver musicians, Cowboys riding chickens, Women who turn into bouquets of flowers etc.) and is worth attempting, as long as the composition and technical work is sound.


I have a very simple structure, I take two things and put them together in a composition, more often than not, they are two things that are possible, presented in a unique way, a woman sleeping in a tree, a woman holding an axe, it is the presentation that makes it mine, anyone can choose to represent these things, that they are practical, mundane, but shown in the medium of painting through my eye, that's my style in a nutshell.


I try to avoid identity, I like to try to reach for the universal, removing the identity of the figure has been a great success to demonstrate this, the viewer can insert themselves into the image this way. If I render a face, a distinct kind of clothing (as opposed to the neutral black, white and brown clothes that I use as a uniform for my figures) it distracts from the simplicity of the image. The simple image, the "impact" picture is what I'm looking for, you have to see it and get what's going on, if it gets muddled along the way it's time to start over. This has been the dominant element of my "style" or "visual language" for the past two or three years, it's what I am known for.


People note that I'm pretty prolific, I post a finished piece or work in progress almost every two days, but this is all I do, it's my only job. I paint nine hours a day, five days a week, so I hope that I would be called, "prolific", otherwise I'm just wasting a hell of a lot of time. It's my favourite thing to do, it always has been, since I was five years old, painting has been my constant, I was lucky to find it early, I'm still chasing it down to this day.


A.S.Hahn


(Hey, TJ anything else ?)



Last Weekend at the Cameron House, where to next ?



This is the last weekend to see my work at the Cameron House, I'll be taking the work down on Sunday, so you have today and tomorrow to head over (408 Queen West) you can scroll down on the blog to see what is hanging there.


Once that stuff (stuff, he calls it, stuff!) comes down I'll be posting a photo of my dedicated wall at the Press Club (850 Dundas West) look for that picture to show up here on Sunday. There will be axe ladies, smaller mariachi etc. there for you to purchase. I may even begin to show some of the April Grid Diary work there but I'm not sure yet, depends on a grand scheme to have someone else build frames for the show, that's right I may have 75 small frames made to display the grids.


I'll be moving a bunch of work to Cowbell Restaurant in April, everything should be hanging there by the 10 th of April. Here is a link to their revamped and very cool website http://www.cowbellrestaurant.ca/


that's all the news for now, many thanks to S.Power and everyone at the Wilson 96 for their support. As always we'd love to hear from you, please send an email, or leave a comment here on the blog.


I get to paint my girlfriend's basement this week.


A.Shay Hahn