Scott Hanson-48 Plates

Travelling the Unites States with his family and visiting its vast array of beautiful sights compelled the artist Scott Hanson to capture those fond memories in a meaningful way. As Scott and his family journeyed from state to state they loved how they would often see licence plates either pinned up or artfully displayed in some way or another along fences or upon the sides of barns as they traveled the roadways. This lead to a hobby of collecting licence plates from each state they traveled to. As any collector likes to do, Scott displayed each unaltered plate on a wall within their home approximating their position within a rudimentary representation of the United States. This went on until they had collected a plate from each state.

Seeing all the plates presented together upon the wall led Scott to come up with the idea of cutting each of the plates into the shapes of the states they represented. He furthered learned stained glass window techniques so that he could apply a beautiful silver border around each state binding them together while showing off their individuality. After experimenting with a variety of canvases he finally settled on cold pressed steel which served as a beautiful and elegant contrast to the soldering used throughout the piece. Once he presented his gift to the family the first “48 Plates” became a beloved and permanent fixture in the home. As time went on and more of Scott’s friends and colleagues would drop by the house and hint that he should share this with the world.

Hence forth from a labor of love was born the first ever representation of the United States in the form of licence plates and after being

48 Plates

sold across the globe and represented in multiple museum collections for nearly two decades the 48 Plates still remains the only one made entirely of metal. Since then the artist has produced other popular incarnations including the 50 plates, California the Golden State and even other countries such as the Canada Plates. What has made the 48 Plates so successful is that it represents what Scott initially set out to do and that was to capture fond memories with his family so when he makes one for someone he tries to capture the meaningful aspects of each plate such as an iconic image or a memorable tagline from each state so in essence he achieves telling a narrative. He also likes to have a nice mixture of vintage and newer plates to give the composition history and a fun anecdote the artist likes to share is that collectively with each one made the owner will have a piece that has had on average of five million miles driven on it.

For questions or more information please email us at info@hansongalleryfineart.com or call us 415-332-1815.

Anothony Emmolo

Anthony Emmolo takes a fully immersive approach to his art seeing the experience that leads to the creation of a work as part of the work itself. Having lived much of his life throughout various areas of Asia Anthony’s masterpieces tell a rich story of tradition and culture through a beautiful pallet of soft and vibrant contrasting colors. The precise and elegant arrangement of objects throughout each piece exemplifies their individual importance but also creates a harmonious balance compositionally. Read more about Anthony’s amazing journey and how they influences his art below which is from www.hansongalleryfineart.com.

In Support Above

The silence of the world of Asian temples would be the perfect setting for sincere self-study and self-expression. Knowing this, Anthony moved his studio to Taipei, Taiwan with the aim to remain in Asia for ten years. The year was 1988; he was 24 years old and had just graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York City…

Since that point in his life, he has visited many countries, walking everywhere with his sketchbooks. Writing notes and drawing pictures helps to open his mind to a world of different sights, sounds and smells that are uniquely Asian. He paints some of the objects that have come closest to his heart. The refined handle of a Chinese calligraphy brush with its horsehair. Teapots and Sake pots that were there with him during his moments spent with friends and the moonlight. Many of these treasures traveled with the artist to The Great Wall of China, Yellow Mountain, along the Yang Tze River, to Korea and Japan, to temples and on train rides throughout the countryside, as drinking tea has long been his way to commune with nature, or with the people of a village.

An object loses significance when it is displayed as a part of a large group. In a Zen temple, the Japanese monks will display one piece of pottery on a shelf that could hold many. In this way the pottery is revealed and the viewer is able to celebrate the color, texture, its perfections and imperfections. This is the essence of Emmolo’s work.

After a six year Taipei, Taiwan experience, the artist moved to Kyoto, Japan where his art changed forever. “The refined impressions of Kyoto are a teacher in themselves. They feed a person with a harmony of color, space and texture in a way that I’ve not seen in any other culture.” When he visited a Noh drama theatre for the first time he saw clearly that divinity can speak to a person through art. It was on that evening that he created the aim to never pick up the paintbrush until he could “be there” with the brush. “And that is when painting took on a higher meaning for me.”

In the year 2003, after four years in Northern California, the artist embarked on yet another Asian experience. This time home became Shanghai, China. Shanghai, a modern city bustling with 20,000,000 people is situated an hour or so away from a number of classical Chinese villages. It was there that Emmolo could penetrate some of the deepest of the ancient Chinese arts. Tea ceremony, dance, flower arrangement, sculpture and painting became his newest interests.

It was in Shanghai that he created his beloved Art For The Heart, which is a charitable project that allows his art to serve society.

For questions or more information please email us at info@hansongalleryfineart.com or call us at 415-332-1815.

Denis Ribas

Born in Perpingnan France and now living in Catalonia Denis Ribas has seen much beauty throughout his life and as an athlete who spends time outdoors it is no wonder that he developed the desire to paint his surroundings, both urban and natural. Unique in his method is a modern impressionistic style of thick paint much like impasto painting infused with an art deco palette. As an active person in life he likes to see art as a process and to him a painting is not complete until he sees and hears the reaction of the viewer. This is the moment he enjoys the most about a painting because it reminds him of his reactions to his subject matter and his ability to approach life with youthful wonder as if it is being experienced for the first time. Below is an excerpt from our website, http://www.hansongalleryfineart.com.

A proud Catalan, Denis Ribas was born in Perpignan in 1954.During his childhood his father, a famous mountaineer

Place de la Liberte. Ceret

and writer, instilled in him his passion for nature.

Denis originally trained at the Perpignon School of Fine Arts. Denis only paints
en plein air (outdoors).

As soon as the artist has selected the landscape based on the angles, the hour of the day, and the brightness of colors he paints on the finest linen.

For questions or more information please email us at info@hansongalleryfineart.com or call us at 415-332-1815.

Jean Wells

Jean Wells began mosaic work at a very young age as an apprentice to her father who created the beautiful tile work that can be seen at the St. Demetrios Greek Church in Seattle. From then she was set on a path and now, much like her current body of work, she has become a larger than life success to the point where she now creates her own mosaic tiles so that she can have the exact pieces she is looking for her iconic creations of everyday objects ranging from popular food items to cosmetic goods. They are fun and glamorous creations. She draws inspiration from the pop culture artists of our time but on a deeper level make a statement about our culture and the American diet. Read more about her from our website www.hansongalleryfineart.com below.

Like her Pop Art Predecessors Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Claes Oldenburg mosaic artist Jean Wells dabbles in the everyday. Wells began sculpting in the late 1980’s using an array of materials and objects. Playful, and full of technical finesse, the artist offers not only visual pleasures, but stimulating food for thought with her Pop icons of ice cream, soda and pin up queens. Fitting neatly into an art historical discourse that revolves around the loaded topic of consumerism, Jean Wells also invokes more rarefied luminaries such as Nikki de Saint Phalle, Wayne Thiebaud and Takashi Murakami. 

Like many postmodern artists working with a blend of pop culture iconography and autobiography, Jean Wells’ work is charming and

Ice Cream Cone

nostalgic, yet packs a punch with its satisfying bite of underlying poignancy, offering an authentic and personal undercurrent that balances the lyrical.

Jean Wells is deeply inspired by her sumptuous materials, and works with an exquisite palette of beautifully colored glass that she has custom created for her sculptures. These unique glass creations provide her with an incredibly wide selection of tones, qualities of reflection and color gradations, allowing her to shade forms, variegate and layer colors with great precision and nuance. She hand cuts the glass, and keeps a reserve of tiny scrap pieces that allow her to add details and touches of color that keep the surfaces lively and variable. Like many artists, she relies upon her personal history, imagination and even her dream life to arrive at the ideas she will pursue as actual objects.

Raised in the wholesome landscape of the evergreen Pacific Northwest, Jean Wells was born into a large artistic family with a strong traditional skill set grounded in such old world techniques such as fresco secco, realism and mosaics. At an early age the young artist apprenticed with her father, mosaic artist Thomas Wells, and learned the painstaking craft and iconography of classical Byzantine-style mosaics as he completed a large commission for the prestigious and architecturally celebrated St. Demetrios Greek Church in Seattle. Having worked for a number of years in paintings and ceramics, Jean Wells has recently rediscovered her love of mosaics and in keeping with her playful, trickster nature, she prefers to turn the traditional uses of this medium on their head and make sculpture instead of murals.

Generally speaking, she prefers to make everything herself, with only a modicum of help from studio assistants. She may use found objects, such as telephones, antiques, appliances, or other household objects or she may carve large durable yet lightweight structures in foam that allow her to play with a larger scale. Initially appearing at the San Diego Museum of Art November 2007, her largest works to date are the “Urban Fruit Trees” which rise up to seventeen feet tall and span a width of eleven feet wide with their branches adorned with Jean Wells’ signature candies, confections, burgers and pop and the similarly sized “Giant Kiss (Kissing Booth)” which debuted to rave reviews at the December 2010 LA Art Fair. Jean Wells is aiming to go very large with her various figures, installations and objects, and is rapidly coming to terms with various technical requirements of scaling her sculptures to even greater heights. Installations such as the “Lipsticks”, “Urban Fruit Trees” and “Phantom” all range from fifteen to twenty feet tall.

While it is certainly possible to simply enjoy Jean Wells’ sparkling artworks as beautiful and playful romps in a shiny candy land of fun and color, the discerning viewer will also be rewarded by the more thought provoking aspects of personal narrative, cultural context and feminist concerns which are located in these inspired sculptures. Even though she offers these sculptures as outsized players in the big game of ‘real art,’ Jean Wells is also content to let us have some fun and pleasure along the way, and in a time where real life is scary enough, it is refreshing to have some moments of genuine innocence.

For questions or more information please email us info@hansongalleryfineart.com or call us at 415-332-1815.

Hines

The beautifully nebulous quality of Hines artwork captures a visceral moment that begs to be seized. Much depth is achieved through the composition of colors as they transition through a range of values lending to a sense of voluminosity with passages waiting to be explored to a far off distance that can be seen through an fading diving line. The colors themselves are transcendent and calming in their ethereal environment. Coming from a background that places him at the epicenter of two of the biggest movements of Abstract Expressionism, New York and San Francisco, Hines has distinguished himself through a fusion of multiple influences. Below is an excerpt form our website www.hansongalleryfineart.com.

The Artist Hines is a full time artist living and painting in Sausalito, California. Hines began as a pencil artist but in 1994 he began exploring painting. By 2000, bored with the rigidity of representational painting Hines became interested in abstraction and began studying works from the New York school of abstract expressionism particularly the artists Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Barnett Newman and Franz Kline. In 2003 Hines moved to the Bay area to be with his now wife, Dinene. He joined the Artists Guild of San Francisco and began regularly exhibiting his abstract paintings. His abstract paintings evolved to include mixed medium, collage, figurative abstraction and what he terms “intuitive painting.

Untitled 7/11

“Boundless Color”

In June of 2010 responding to changes in his personal life and wishing to return to a more classical approach to painting, Hines decided to abandoned texture and focus on color and expressive brushstrokes. The edges in his paintings softened or disappeared at the same time he began to intensify and expand his range of colors. The style of these new paintings is ethereal having an atmospheric, sometimes celestial feel to th

em, reminiscent of J. W. Turner. Hines’ approach to color and blending creates beautiful transitions of colors while his flowing brushstrokes express the spontaneity of emotion and movement.

For questions or more information please email us at info@hansongalleryfineart.com or call us at (415) 332-1815.

Souvenir Flamboyant

This time we circle back to a previous artist and rather than highlighting the artist as we typically do we will focus on a piece. JalinePol, who is our feature artist next month for her annual show here at Hanson Gallery Fine Art created a still life piece titled “Souvenir Flamboyant” where she explores her trademark impasto technique of painting wet on wet primarily using a palette knife to render her work, especially the beautiful petals seen in her bouquets. This normally results in a dry time that can take up to months. 

Souvenir Flamboyant

Though she often uses a range of colors, or contrasting colors, this one is primarily monochromatic using wisps of yellow to accent the the edges of petals and the table below. The differing values of red cause the piece change remarkably as the light condition varies showing that Jaline thinks forward about the presentation she is striving to achieve. The reds are also powerful and bold but equally seductive. The chunky vases, which are inspired by a thick tree trunk on Jaline’s estate in France, and the masculine table contrast beautifully with the more feminine petal work that is the focal point of the piece. This mixture of elements lends to the broad appeal of her work and is perfect for couples who own an art collection together. In the background is the faint presence of window panes which she enjoys including in many of her pieces but also acts as a preview and anchor for another of her series in which she explores landscapes.

Feel free to browse her works here and see some of her other existing themes. The show begins May 5th and runs through June 2nd and we are excited to announce that JalinPol will in fact be attending the show On Saturday May 5th from 2-5 PM.

Pietro Piccoli

Pietro Piccoli

This time we stick with the same theme of European port cities as we did in the last post but in a new vein as we discuss recently introduced artist, Pietro Piccoli. Piccoli has taken a classic theme and popular style of modern impressionist painting and reinvented it with unique broad brushstrokes and palette knife applications that abstract the environment with cubist undertones. Often times he will experiment with the way light dances on the trees in the foreground giving his painting a unique sense of depth and lush amount of color. Please enjoy Picocoli’s works on our website, www.hansongalleryfineart.com and read more about him below.

Pietro Piccoli was born in 1954 in the small town of Montopoli di Sabina in central Italy. At a very early age, he became fascinated with the arts and, at the age of sixteen, was enrolled by his parents in Latina’s high school for the arts.

Luci e Vele a Bosa Sardegna

By the age of twenty, Piccoli was off to Rome, which in the early 70’s was an exciting place for a young artist. It was a hotbed of new ideas and on the cutting edge of the international art scene. Piccoli immediately immersed himself in this new environment, experimenting with new ideas and absorbing the innovative concepts of the many artists whose studios he frequented and to whom he apprenticed himself. Moreover, for a year or so, he traveled in the north of Italy and visited Paris and Zurich.

The 80’s comprised a second period of active experimentation in Piccoli’s career. He investigated new mediums and sought new ways of weaving together the major strands of his style, realism and abstraction, visual detail and imagination. Variously, he tried impressionism, expressionism, and fauvism. Within ten years, he had found a definite direction toward the synthesis he was seeking. His colors became brighter, his brushwork more free. Soon he began adding patches of pure abstraction as a sort of “out-of -focus” overlay in front of the pure landscape. These patches serve as a visual relief from the strongly geometric architectural forms. In his most recent works, the subject matter has become incorporated into the abstraction.

Ramon Pujol

Ramon Pujol is back. This celebrated artist is now featured once again in the gallery and his works can be seen here, www.hansongalleryfineart.com. As an accomplished and classically trained oil painter fromSpain, Pujol likes to capture the idyllic beauty of port side cities throughoutEurope. Within this distinct colorful style he captures a serene and underpopulated city with sparse clusters of boats so he can to show off his true talent of being a reflectionist painter and play with dancing waves of color. Below is his biography.

Ramon Pujol was born in Olot, Spain in 1947. His family met his early talent as a gifted artist with encouragement and clear acceptance. From a very early age, paint brushes and colors were his favorite toys. Pujol says that an artist is born, is made and develops. As such, his first academic training was at the Escola de Belles Artes de Olot. From this training he was granted the opportunity to study under the masterful teaching of Luis Carbonell and later Gussinye. 

Colors of Portofino

Ramon Pujol admires the styles of many different artists like Cezanne, Gaugin, Toulouse-Lautrec, and especially Monet and Manet. His main influence, although, is nature. The colors, changes in the light, luminosity and opacity inspire him to depict amazing light reflections on water. Initially, Pujol insisted on the use of the palette knife gave way to systematic use of brushes. With his change his paintings began to reveal a deep understanding and interpretation of depth, light and atmosphere.

The meticulous style of Pujol renders a level of distinction that sets his work apart from other painters. As such, he has received gold medals at the Autumn Salon in Marseille, France and the International Salon in Evian, France in addition to countless awards in his native country of Spain.

Pujol prefers to stay away from abstract painting because he feels that understanding is a very important part of art. It is essential for the artist and the spectator to share a common bond when looking at a painting. Viewers of Pujol’s art can easily see his love for the beauties in nature and his adoration for travelling to exquisite spots all around Europe. He journeys to Portofino, Venice and La Spezia, Italy every year, along with northern and southern Spain. He also enjoys visiting Paris, Holland, Switzerland and Greece.

Ramon Pujol has had an impressive number of exhibits. His first show was in 1965, when he was 18 years old and now he has had over 130 in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Majorca and Washington, just to name a few. Upon introducing the original painting s of Pujol to the international art world reception to the work of this Spanish master has been outstanding. The alluring atmosphere and reflections of his works pull the viewer into a beautiful and tranquil world, the world of Ramon Pujol.

Ramon Pujol has several books published on his life and achievements. Among these are Ramon Pujol by Joan Barrill, 2 books entitled Ramon Pujol by Jose Maria Cadena, and Ramon Pujol Reflections by Jose Maria Cadena.

For questions or more information please email us at info@hansongalleryfineart.com or call us at (415) 332-1815.

Tim Cantor

Once in a great while an artist comes along that revolutionizes the art world in a completely unique and innovative fashion and Tim Cantor is just that. His works tell compelling stories layered in metaphor and symbology often focusing on the perseverance of the human spirit and within the past eleven years poetry now accompanies his work lending context to an ever expanding reservoir of expression and creativity. Starting as young as age six Cantor quickly gained momentum as an artist and by the age of fifteen already had a piece entered into the White House. With his unique illustrative surrealist style, he is an artist that will no doubt leave his mark on the world for many generations to come. Read more about his fascinating history and those who influenced his career on our website, www.hansongalleryfineart.com.

Tim Cantor was born north of San Francisco in the summer of 1969. In 1975, Tim Cantor’s father recognized his son’s uncommon knowledge with drawing and went into his attic in search of a box of oil paints and brushes that once belonged to Tim’s great grandfather. Tim immediately began painting with the same supplies that his British ancestor had made a way of life with as he traveled throughout Asia, Europe, and America nearly a century earlier. Tim’s comprehension with oils was instantly visible, and his obsession began. His first oil painting came at age five.

By age fifteen, Tim Cantor was given his first gallery exhibition where one of his paintings was acquired to hang in the White House, thereby instigating an immediate demand for his unusual talent. Throughout the following years, his paintings would travel the world with exclusive exhibitions in Athens, Tokyo, Singapore, Paris, Venice, New York, Beverly Hills and San Francisco. Creating meaningful works of art became intertwined with his survival, his

Beauty's Privilege

desires, and his greatest affections. The majority of his time creating his paintings has been lived in the solitude and quietness of night. Thusly, his underlying concentration gained a connection to his personal senses that aided in the development of his own writing style that explains much of the profound imagery within his compositions.
While the future of his art is unknown, what can be assured is the determination that he has to his undeviating obsession; an obsession that was born into his infancy and has dwelled in his blood without end; an obsession that merged with the fondness for his bride Amy, and will forever embody that love in the painted images that exist because of her adoring bond.
Today, the diverse enthusiasts and collectors of his art comprise of people from all parts of the world. If he lives an average length life, he will likely have one of longest authentic art careers known. One could say that this mysterious artist possesses a rare combination of extraordinary talent, unpredictability, and pure artistic nature to set his name in the history books of tomorrow. Yet for now, Tim Cantor keeps far from the madding crowd, shrouded in his studio, painting every night from midnight until morning.

For questions or more information please email us at info@hansongalleryfineart.com or call us at (415) 332-1815.

Fernando Alcaraz

The brilliance of Fernando Alcaraz’s works are in their simplicity. He captures that rare delight all of us experience now and then when we stumble on to a beautiful place to discover we have it all to ourselves. This Spanish artist focuses much of the time on painting a quiet beach after people have left for the evening and have parked their boats on shore. Read more about this varied artist below which is an excerpt from our website, Hanson Gallery Fine Art.

Beachscene

Fernando Ibañez Alcaraz was born in Alcoy, Alicante Spain in 1969. As a child he was drawn to the artistic side of life which drove him to begin studying forms of art at the age of 15. For six years Alcaraz worked under his mentor, who was also an artist and teacher, studying artistic techniques and focusing on his drawing abilities. At this time he also began attending classes at the local art school, Escuela de Artes y Oficios in Alcoy.

Although his years of studying left him with skills and interests in pastels, watercolor, and pencil drawings, Alcaraz chose to focus his studies in oil painting.

Alcaraz has participated in several collective and individual exhibitions throughout his career along with winning several awards for his inspiring canvases. In 1985, he placed second in the IV Concurso de Careles de Fiestas de Moros y Cristianos in Ibi, Alicante; he exhibited his work at the Encuentro Mundial for the Fraternidad Hermana, in the Palace for Exhibitions and Congress of Granada in July 1992; in October 1992, he exhibited his work in a collective exposition in the Sala de Arte EMECE of Alcoy; in 1994, he participated in a collective exhibition at the Casa de la Cultura of Sollana in Valencia; and in 1996, Alcaraz participated in the Sala de Arte EMECE of Alcoy’s Grand Collection of Contemporary Teachers of Realism.
Ancient Spanish villages with their stucco buildings and tiled roofs, budding roses growing along weathered walls, and romantic beach scenes are Alcaraz’s forte. His unique use of light and shadow create depth against his textured canvases. Viewers are enticed with the reality of his subjects and feel as though they too are able to experience his soft-hued, quaint Mediterranean afternoons.

For questions or more information please email us at info@hansongalleryfineart.com or call us at (415) 332-1815.