Bret Hansen

The EDGE of earth

April 12 — April 18

Opening Reception: Saturday, April 13, 2024. 6-9PM

Los Angeles-based painter Bret Hansen presents an exhibition of paintings completed during and after the pandemic. His work delves into feelings of disorientation, isolation, and ultimately hope brought on by societal and personal upheaval.

His pandemic series employs a clinical, hard-edged style to depict horizons, mountains and clouds. Marked by fluorescent suns and melting skies, the paintings suggest a vantage at the edge of oblivion, capturing a moment when Los Angeles seemed like civilization’s final enclave.

Hansen’s post-pandemic works delve into the emotional terrain of a romantic breakup, using fiery reds to navigate the stages of heartbreak and recovery. Through depictions ranging from demonic ex-partners to fallen figures seeking reorientation within modernist settings, the artist explores themes of balance, stability, and the quest for personal equilibrium.

In contrast, serene yet somber representations of Los Angeles’s Silver Lake hillsides offer a peaceful reflection on place and belonging, marked by tranquil greens and blues. These works stand in quiet dialogue with the earlier series' intense emotional and apocalyptic narratives.

Incorporating a graphic design sensibility, the artist’s approach to painting emphasizes clean lines, geometric shapes, and a vibrant, synthetic palette. Elements like artificial paint drips and pixellated stars form a visual language that bridges a digital aesthetic with painterly expression. Hansen’s canvases reflect our struggle to find footing in a world turned upside down and our persistent, sometimes defiant, drive to seek out light and balance amid chaos.

Bret Hansen (b. 1970) is a painter and graphic designer based Los Angeles. His design career spans art direction roles in publishing, branding and advertising at firms in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. He received his MFA in design from Virginia Commonwealth University and later taught design courses at Pratt Institute’s graduate program in Manhattan. Hansen’s paintings blend painterly expression with a graphic design sensibility and explore themes of alienation, disorientation, authenticity and hope.