Elliot Hanson / Collapsing Space

I am interested in entanglement. From tangling vines, entangled bodies, entrapment, ensnarement, entanglement is a lens through which I can examine the world, turning my interest to the connective tissue stretching between bodies, subjects, forms. To be entangled is to be trapped, to be caught in a snare, to be mutually invested in. In my body of work entanglement takes the form of wrestling, landscape, and bodies under pressure. My work with monotype seeks to express this pressure.

By flattening painterly expression, pushing it into the tangled fibers of paper, monotype elevates the material flatness and bring attention to the pressure of the printmaking process, coupling it to the pressure felt between wrestling bodies. My collection of monotypes contains 16 similar but different prints, connected by similar figures and aesthetics, different but interconnected with one another. The process of monotype is inherently iterative as opposed to the reproductive nature of more conventional printmaking techniques, I want the individual prints on display to struggle with one another, pushing against and competing for attention. Here the performance of painting is reduced, processed through a machine becoming bound and defined by the high pressure joining the two bodies of substrate and matrix. This performance is not mine, the act of printing works to alienate me from it. I seek to embed my work with this feeling of alienation and distance, especially in the arena of masculinity.

Through the lens of entanglement, I hope to inform my artistic practices exploring the alienation associated with masculine performance. I am also exploring the way in which individuality and collectivity can rub against each other, groups elevating the individual, and individuals tearing down groups. I hope that this work also highlights the humor and ironic eroticism involved in the serious performance of wrestling and combat sports.

elliotdhanson.com

@hansonelli0