Matt Hansel, NY & LA- A Critical Review
Matt Hansel has magic hands and an insanely wild imagination. Marry that with a religiously dedicated studio practice and you have that thing where the creation transcends the sum of its parts. If you’re in LA and its between Tuesday and Saturday, 10 to 6pm, stop reading this right now and go check out his new exhibition, “My Inner Demon Never Sleeps Alone”, at The Hole, LA. You can thank me later. For everyone else like myself who's hunkering down for another round of art fairs in New York next week, by all means, read on and tell me what you think of Matt's work in the comments below...
As an adept and practiced visual poet Hansel drops the mike on every stage he dominates. Better yet, he seems to grow stronger both qualitatively and quantitatively with every opportunity to expand his audience. Jolly and somber, comical, yet deeply rooted in both the deconstruction and celebration of the cannons of western art history, this guy should be covered in relish because he’s one hell of a creative hot dog. Distorted filters, vanishing acts and tromp l’oeil illusions trick your mind and cause the edges of your lips to curl upwards towards the eyes. No matter how rich and diverse the subject matter, he seems to always find a way to subvert expectations while simultaneously showing off his art historical prowess. Even when he’s literally reproducing portions of old master works and they seem familiar, there’s always some tricky business going on behind the wizard’s curtain. Contemporarily cultural and classicist mashups make for exciting and unexpected compositions. Other successful artists I know like Peter Daverington or Christian Rex Van Minnen have found success with this formula, but there’s something sweetly nostalgic, something authentic, yet specifically purposeful about Hansel’s eclectic recipes. Is it pop? Is it surrealism? Because it is so technically and aptly proficient, because he swings for the bleachers like Mr. October, because his humor and childlike playfulness keep the works grounded and accessible, I’d say maybe they are both, or maybe something new. Whatever they are, his years at Cooper Union and Yale seem to have been well spent. Keep on swinging that bat around Reggie Jackson and we will keep cheering you on.
Matt Hansel’s, “My Inner Demon Never Sleeps Alone”, is on View at The Hole, LA through June 3rd. (These images are a selection of Hansel’s work over many years)