Jonathan Hansen : A Short Biography:
Born in Pittsfield, MA in 1977, Jonathan showed interest in the arts at a very young age. Throughout his early childhood, he was doodling on the pages of church flyers in the middle of service and creating his own videogame characters in weekly series. Much of this time, Jonathan was illustrating his own little world, far from the hum-drum life that he knew. It was a time of happiness, of innocence, in which he chose to live. A move to Milford, MA in 1987 forced Jonathan to make new friends in his 5th grade year of schooling. One such friend (who later became a rival in the art room during high school) was taken out by an act of God when a previously thought unloaded BB gun was aimed at his chest and fired. This un- fortunate incident caused Jonathan to win the coveted Most Artistic award during his senior year of high school. (The friend survived.) Jonathan showed promise during those years in both Illustration and Fine Arts. He knew that he wanted to go to art school, and the rejection from a christian campus (due to poor SAT scores) forced him to attend the only other college he had applied to; The Art Institute of Boston.
At AIB, Jonathan finished the foundation art course during his freshman year with relative ease, except for the poor grades in art history; one of his least favorite subjects. He came to a cross-roads when choosing a major, ultimately making the choice of Fine Arts with a major in oil painting. Known to many as the poor-mans major, (ultimately leading many to commit suicide for lack of monetary gains from selling any work) Jonathan struggled to sell any artwork after exhibiting in a few small galleries in MA. This struggle still continues, but thankfully, no suicides have yet to be committed. Hopefully things will stay that way, as many people have enjoyed Jonathan's artwork over the years, and would probably be pretty upset if that were to stop.
Ten years later, Jonathan has continued to find inspiration for paintings along the way, most notibly the Asylum Series in 2007 and the Wallpaper Portait Series in 2008. His style continues to evolve as his interests change., and life continues to deal him lemons. Just kidding about the lemons. Kind of. His current fascination is painting on paintings...and no, thats not a typo. See the most recent work in Cross-Cultural Contamination!
Jonathan is co-curator of Dark World Gallery with Don Hartmann at 179 Grafton St. in Worcester.
Jonathan has been a teacher of the visual arts for four years in High School and is currently teaching 5th and 6th grade.
A Non-Complete History of Gallery Shows:
Dark World Gallery : Worcester, MA : Feb 2009 : The Asylum Series : Solo Show
Art At The Ship : Hotel Vernon : Worcester, MA : Apr 2008 : Group Show
Starbucks : Amazing Things Art Center : Framingham, MA : Feb 2008 : Rotoscope Paintings
Post Road Art Center : Marlboro, MA : 2007 : A Show of Hearts : Group Show
F. Scott Gallery : Sudbury, MA : 2005 - 2007 : New Work : Revolving Group Show
Harvard Medical School : Cambridge, MA : 2003 - 2004 : On Our Own Time : Photos : Group Show
Highland Artist Group : Worcester, MA : 1999 - 2000 : Revolving Group Show)
A Non-Complete History of Academic Achievements:
M. Ed : Salem State College : 2007
Educator Licensure - Grades 5-12 : Framingham State College : 2003
BFA in Fine Arts : AIB : 1999
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The Art and Life of Jonathan Hansen :: Phone (508) 265-1776 :: Email Jonhansen77@gmail.com :: SOCIETY6
