Pointillism meets Performance Art
If you haven't encountered Phil Hansen's work, you're missing out on a new form of Pointillism mixed with performance art. His work is politically charged, as all good art should be (I'm aware that "good art" is a dubious term, but I'm most interested in political art;). He doesn't necessarily look at museums or galleries to display his work and has preferred the world-wide-web as his exhibition space.
Hansen, an art school dropout, works as an X-ray technician by day, spending all of his spare time and money on his art. His presentation medium, though, has earned him a huge audience.
This 44" x 104" image of Kim Jong Il is made using half a liter of his own blood and over 6000 bandages on the canvas. Here's a close up of the canvas:
Another piece titled Paul, is a 144" x 96" portrait of a homeless man made by stepping in paint and walking all over the canvas.
You may click these images to view a video of its making.
I love the in your face, polemic nature of his work. It is apparent not only in the final result, but starts at the inception level... in his choice of materials, words and the use of his own body. Every step is meant to incite and make you re-think. Its almost like reading Eduardo Galeano.
In this work below, titled "Che", he uses just one quote of Che Guvera over and over again to create this impression. The quote says:
"Words that do not match deeds, are unimportant."
When I first came across Pointillism, especially Georges Seurat in art history class, I was not too attracted to it. It is a great way to understand color and one had to respect the immense patience in the technique. But, I've never been too comfortable with technique as the supreme qualifier of Art. Technique is an exigent foundation but I'm not sure if it can serve as an end in itself. By that benchmark, it becomes easy to bastardize Art as has already happened with gimmicks such as the art of selling, the art of advertising, the art of conversation, the art of war and even the art of living where they'll teach you the art of breathing!
Okay, I realize that it would be wrong to judge Seurat or other artists of his era by 21st century conventions. Seurat certainly must have been ground-breaking at his time. He became meaningful to study, especially since we were going to be working with pixel based computer graphics. But it is only when I came across Dada and its future derivative movements that the artist and his mind became attractive.
Hansen's work builds upon that continuum using provocative themes that redefine classical art movements. And in that sense he's an absolute pleasure. Hopefully you'll enjoy it as much as I did. Check it out.
