PULLMAN – The Museum of Art at Washington State University will present, “Gaylen Hansen: Three Decades of Paintings,” from Feb.16 to April 8.
Parts of the exhibit showcasing the works of Hansen, a WSU Fine Arts professor emeritus, will open simultaneously at both the WSU Museum of Art and the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture in Spokane, where it will be displayed through Aug. 5. In the fall, the exhibit will travel to the Seattle Art Museum, where it will be displayed in its entirety.
A public walkthrough of the WSU exhibit by the artist will commence at noon on Feb. 16 and be followed at 6 p.m. by a free public reception and lecture by Hansen in the museum’s Fine Arts Center Auditorium.
Organized by Museum of Art Curator Keith Wells, the exhibit is a 30-year retrospective of the work of the Palouse, Wash.-based painter who has exhibited his paintings in New York, Berlin, Singapore, Beijing, Los Angeles, Seattle and other cities across the United States. Hansen is the recipient of the 1989 Governor’s Award from the State of Washington and the 2001 Flintridge Foundation Visual Arts Award.
Wells said the exhibit will include more than 70 works that trace Hansen’s evolution as an artist.
“From his tenderly rendered narrative paintings of the 1970’s to his bolder canvases in which his palette has become more vibrant, the compositions more complex, and the imagery more iconic – it’s all represented in the exhibit,” he said.
“It’s a unique honor for a small museum located outside a major art center to have the opportunity to celebrate the career of an artist who has so spectacularly carved out such an individual vision,” Museum Director Chris Bruce said of Hansen. “That he is our Palouse neighbor is rare, and a great reason to undertake this project. His work is a perfect example of the wonderful resources of distinction we have right here in our own backyard.
“Hansen has lived in rural Eastern Washington since 1957 when he joined the faculty of Washington State College, and yet his paintings have been seen all over the world,” Bruce said. “Still, he remains an under-recognized artist of vast talent and emotional range, who follows a deeply American expressive and eccentric tradition of artists such as Red Grooms, H.C. Westermann and Philip Guston. He has created that most difficult of all artistic accomplishments – combining a serious, edgy painting style with humor and personal narratives that allow both art connoisseurs and every day folk to enjoy and appreciate his art.”
Hansen, 85, said he chronicles what amuses and interests him most – fly fishing, the surrounding rural land and the animals that populate it, and his environmental concerns. A review by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer said Hansen “paints the human comedy as if it’s coming to a close.”
There will be a full-color trade book produced for this exhibit by Marquand Books of Seattle. The 120-page publication contains more than 100 color plates and includes an introduction and acknowledgements by Museum Director Chris Bruce; text by Curator Keith Wells; and Hansen’s own commentaries on more than 20 individual paintings. The artist also pays tribute to cartoonist and fellow artist, Gary Larson, and provides a chronology highlighting important events and persons in his life.
Gallery hours are Monday – Saturday 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. and closed on Sunday.
For more information, please contact the Museum of Art/WSU at (509) 335-1910 or visit the WSU Museum of Art website at: www.wsu.edu/artmuse.
See photo of Gaylen Hansen in his art studio in Palouse, Washington. For more about Gaylen Hansen’s artistic career, see his resume or view 60 color images of his work.
