An exhibit of paintings and drawings of Kansas City buildings by Glen Hansen. The Guldner Gallery in the Kansas City Public Library’s Central Library June 27 – September 13, 2013
Some artists are known for their figure studies. Or landscapes. Or portraits. Glen Hansen creates paintings and drawings of buildings. And not even entire buildings. Just pieces of buildings.
“My thing is isolating the details of architecture,” he explains. “I don’t want to do entire street scenes. There are no human beings in my paintings. No cats on the window sills. No birds.
“It’s about a building and its relationship with the sky. The human element is found in the architects who designed the buildings and the craftsmen who sweated to make them a reality.”
Hansen has created one-man shows exploring the architecture of Paris, Prague, Venice, and New York City, where he lives. Now he does the same for Kansas City.
The Kansas City Project, on display through September 13, 2013 in the Guldner Gallery at the Kansas City Public Library’s Central Library, 14 W. 10th St., features more than 30 drawings and a half-dozen paintings of local buildings and their architectural and decorative details.
Admission is free.
Some of Hansen’s images will be immediately recognizable to local residents, like the rocket ship sitting atop the old TWA Building at 18th and Main. Or the façade of Town Topic Hamburgers.
Others, like the Strahm sign (on the Strahm Mailing Services building at 17th and Broadway) have been hiding in plain sight.
According to Hansen, his attraction to architecture as subject matter is practically genetic.
“Going back to my great grandparents, my family were all builders: carpenters, bricklayers, contractors. I worked on construction sites in the summer. And after I graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York City, I began making art based on my love of the Victorian homes found in my old neighborhood on Long Island.
“You do what you know, and I know buildings. I discovered that was what I was really good at.”
His transition from working class kid to fine artist was a gradual one, Hansen said. “I was always doing drawings for my grandmother and mom. In high school I had a couple of great art teachers who encouraged me. So I put a portfolio together, and the next thing you know you’re in art school.”
Over the years several of Hansen’s pieces have been purchased for the collection of Commerce Bankshares. Three years ago the bank’s chairman, Jonathan Kemper, commissioned Hansen to design a poster for the opening of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.
“It was the first time I’d really attempted something based on modern architecture. But I really immersed myself into the work of architect Moshe Safdie, and I was blown away.”
Hansen’s painting of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts was purchased by the William T. Kemper Foundation, Commerce Bank, Trustee, and given to the Library. It plays a prominent role in the exhibit.
While doing studies of the still-under-construction Kauffman Center, Hansen began looking around Kansas City – and fell in love. He proposed to Kemper a show examining the architectural richness of the city and received an eager response. He produced 30 finished drawings in three months.
Hansen works both from photos and from sketches drawn on site. “I try to visit at different times of day and in different weather. I’m really interested in light and shadow.”
Though his work has been featured in shows of photorealist art, Hansen doesn’t think of himself as a practitioner of that style. He may work from photos, but doesn’t try to copy them.
“A transformation takes place between the photo and the drawing. There’s something going on, something interesting, something soulful. I’ll eliminate things from the photo that detract from the focus or the balance of the painting. There’s a lot of editing.
“And all my canvases and drawings are square. I think that goes back to my love of Victorian houses, which are basically boxes. I have to compose within a box, which creates a tension. Plus, I don’t want my canvas to be rectangular because it will remind you of looking through a camera’s viewfinder. That’s another choice that separates my art from photography.”
Hansen lives in an apartment with a view of the iconic Flatiron Building. But while most of New York’s great architecture has been repeatedly drawn, painted and photographed, he views Kansas City as virgin territory.
“I think it’s a great town. In fact, Kansas City is my second favorite city in the U.S. after New York. It’s just filled with hidden jewels.”
