It has been said that wisdom comes with a backward glance.(1)  “We Used To Get So High,” an exhibition of new work by Elias Hansen, is that redemptive look back while at the same time laying bare the problems and impotence of hindsight(2).  Working with found objects and meticulously crafted glass, sculptural and photographic elements, Hansen imbues his ad hoc constructions with poetically-weighted meditations on place, history and memory.  There are three strains distinct to Northwest aesthetics informing Hansen’s work—the handmade, the utilitarian and the spiritually-charged. Tapping “the revolutionary energy of the outmoded,”(3) the work’s back woods, d.i.y. look was born out of the formative years he spent on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula with his brother and friends who were compelled to create but constrained by the materials and objects that were on hand.  These youthful collaborations in the traditions of 70s countercultures, utopian thought and alternative lifestyles have continued into his mature work producing major projects with the same set of friends in museums, institutions and art spaces throughout the world.  Although his visual vernacular is associated with the Pacific Northwest, Hansen’s pathologic deployment of these materials and forms give them power beyond the place itself; their specificity of origin belying their universal spirit and import.  His objects, moments and recollections are handed down, not for the sake of nostalgia alone, but become our charge for reflection and transmission.  This is the artist’s first one-person exhibition with the gallery.

BIOGRAPHY

Elias Hansen (b. 1979) grew up on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.  He studied at Whitman College, Walla Walla (1997-2001), and the New Orleans School of Glass and Print (2001).  He has had solo exhibitions at The Company, Los Angeles (2010) and The Helm Gallery, Tacoma (2009) and upcoming at Maccarone, New York (July 2010).  He is a frequent collaborator with his brother Oscar Tuazon realizing solo exhibitions at The Seattle Art Museum (“Kodiak,” 2008); Howard House Contemporary Art, Seattle (2008); Bodgers and Kludgers Cooperative Art Parlour, Vancouver (2007); “Use it for what it’s Used For,” organized and curated by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, NY; and, most recently, a major installation, “It Was One of My Best Comes,” at the Parc St. Leger Center of Contemporary Art, Pougues-les-Eaux, France (March 2010).  Upcoming collaborations with Tuazon include installations at Western Bridge, Seattle (May 2010); and the Palais de Tokyo, Paris (t.b.a.).  Hansen’s work has been included in important group exhibitions including “Wood” at Maccarone, NY (2009);  “Suddenly:  Where We Live Now,” Pomona College Museum of Art (2009), Cooley Gallery, Reed College, Portland (2008), and 312 Occidental, Seattle (2009); “The Station” curated by Shamim Momin and Nate Lowman, Miami (2008); “Sack of Bones,” Peres Projects, Los Angeles; “You Complete Me,” Western Bridge, Seattle;  and “Kulture der Angst,” Halle 14, Leipzig.  His work is in numerous private collections and in the permanent collection of the Seattle Art Museum.  The artist was first shown at Lawrimore Project as part of “Spite House” curated by Yoko Ott and Jessica Powers (August 2009).  Hansen splits his time living and working in Tacoma, Washington and New York. 

1, 2, 3.  Initial thoughts and inspiration for this press release were lifted from: Thorne, Christian. “The Revolutionary Energy of the Outmoded”.  OCTOBER 104.  Spring 2003