Sound artist and colourist painter Mike Hansen translates the rhythm and musical structure of free jazz into bold energetic abstract works of art. Hansen adopts the freedom and exploratory ethos improvisational jazz and experimental music to examine how the interactions between line and colour can be used to visualize abstract concepts and sound. Viewers are invited to interact with the work, by scanning the QR codes on the exhibition labels to listen to the music that informed its creation.
Mike Hansen spo-o-fi installtion view
Lonsdale Gallery, Main Gallery
Mike Hansen
The Trout (Quintet)
2021
acrylic on canvas
60 x 48 inches
$6,200
Coltrane’s opus. One of the most influential works of contemporary jazz. Coltrane found the key to unlocking the affect music can have. This work is an envelope containing all jazz compositions and improvisations strive to be. A seminal masterpiece that has opened the world up to the power of contemporary music.
Presenting new paintings, sculptures and original watercolor studies, this exhibition critically plays with the legacy mid-century colour field painting, re-interpreting it for twenty-first-century. The exhibition title, “spot-o-fi”, is a cheeky play on words satirizing the pervasiveness of music streaming platforms; where predictive algorithms enable continuous passive listening, ultimately reducing the music into background noise.
Mike Hansen spo-o-fi installtion view
Lonsdale Gallery, Main Gallery
I have always had this fascination of how classical music can be redefined into contemporary jazz. Uri Caine a well-respected improving piano player took the bait of this challenge. His takes on Mahler incorporate free jazz, Jewish folk melodies combined with classical violin. When this recording was released, my first and subsequent listening still bring pure joy to my heart.
Mike Hansen
Now Will the Sun Rise as Brightly
2023
acrylic on epoxy
23 x 20 x 6 inches
$4,400
Mike Hansen
A Love Supreme (Jazz Series)
2021
acrylic on canvas
74 x 74 inches (four canvases)
$11,000
Coltrane’s opus. One of the most influential works of contemporary jazz. Coltrane found the key to unlocking the affect music can have. This work is an envelope containing all jazz compositions and improvisations strive to be. A seminal masterpiece that has opened the world up to the power of contemporary music.
Mike Hansen
Off Minor, Big Band (Jazz Series)
2021
acrylic on canvas
36 x 36 inches
$2,900
Trained as a musician, Hansen deconstructs and maps the sonic structure of music into visual elements, bringing sound, colour and gesture into a single form. His multidisciplinary investigation of ‘how’ to visualize an auditory experience continues to be an ongoing project for the artist. For the last four years, he has been creating dynamic lively abstract paintings that translate significant pieces of music from the twentieth century into bold primary colour fields of ascending and descending shapes.
Mike Hansen
A Passage Through
2023
acrylic on plaster on marble base
16 x 6 x 9 inches
$2,600
Mike Hansen
Field and Figure
2020
acrylic on plaster on marble base
11.5 x 7 x 3 inches
$2,600
Mike Hansen spo-o-fi installtion view
Lonsdale Gallery, Main Gallery
Mike Hansen spo-o-fi installtion view
Lonsdale Gallery, Main Gallery
Mike Hansen spo-o-fi installtion view
Lonsdale Gallery, Main Gallery
This work reflects so much of my research into sound and structures. I believe all sound lives in the buildings we inhabit. Unlike visual media which is reflected, sound is assimilated. This makes me conclude that whatever sound that has existed is always there. Absorbed into the fabric of the space.
Mike Hansen
The Influence of Buildings on Musical Tone
2021
acrylic on canvas
60 x 48 inches
$6,200
Mike Hansen
Instead of Us There Was a Rustle Heard
2023
plaster on marble
13.5 x 7 x 6 inches
$2,600
Mike Hansen
Tonight at Noon
2021
acrylic on plaster with marble base
18 x 14 x 5 inches
$2,600
Mike Hansen
Hot Sonnata I (Remix Series)
2022
acrylic on canvas
30 x 30 inches
$2,500
Mike Hansen
Hot Sonnata II (Remix Series)
2022
acrylic on canvas
30 x 30 inches
$2,500
I can’t get enough of this work. A four part surprise that deconstructs classical music into a celebration of early jazz music. It fulfills the mandate of the Dadaist movement. It brought jazz into the avant-guarde through its intellectual crossing of genre and bringing American music into a European context.
Mike Hansen
Hot Sonnata III (Remix Series)
2022
acrylic on canvas
30 x 30 inches
$2,500
Mike Hansen
Hot Sonnata IV (Remix Series)
2022
acrylic on canvas
30 x 30 inches
$2,500
Hansen occupies the space of both artist and composer via his practice of interpretation, appropriation, and transformation. When creating his pieces, the artist will listen to a singular song on repeat, from preliminary sketches and studies through until the final product. By way of simplification and reduction of visual elements, he creates non-representational vibrant compositions that produce a multi-sensory experience. With the added element of the QR codes and audience interaction, Hansen is able to re-contextualize the formal legacy of colour field painting and re-situate it as a participatory and synergetic contemporary social context.
Mike Hansen
Now Will the Sun Rise as Brightly
2023
acrylic on epoxy
23 x 20 x 6 inches
$4,400
Mike Hansen spo-o-fi installtion view
Lonsdale Gallery, Main Gallery
Mike Hansen
Assorted Studies
watercolour & pencil on paper
19 x 20 inches (framed)
$1,500 (each)
Mike Hansen
Reflections on Gnossienne No 3
2023
acrylic on epoxy
27 x 11 x 8 inches
$4,600
Haunting though full of colour and vibrancy. This a wondrous jazz orchestral rendition of the Satie. The Vienna Art Orchestra dismantles the minimal styles of Satie and reconstructs a fully sonic discussion of the brilliance of this pre-dadist composer. It brings a smile to my face and comfort to my spirit.
Mike Hansen spo-o-fi installtion view
Lonsdale Gallery, Main Gallery