Online Exclusive
Lonsdale Gallery is pleased to present Monk’s Music, an online exclusive presentation of Mike Hansen’s new series of work inspired by the legacy of American jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk.
Handmade Limited-Edition Portfolio
$800
Suit of 6 Framed Works with Portfolio
$1,000
Each Portfolio is Contains:
- Six signed & editioned archival pigments prints on 250gm acid free cotton rag paper
- Matted to 11 x 14 inches with acid free mat board, individually wrapped
- Prints are ready to frame, and fit standard frame sizes.
- Portfolios comes individually wrapped in a handmade limited-edition case, accompanied with an introductory essay by the artist.
Mike Hansen, Monk’s Music Series
Second Floor, Lonsdale Gallery
Mike Hansen’s lively free-form abstract compositions capture the rich sounds, rhythms, and colours of jazz. Hansen approaches his work with a synesthetic eye, translating and distilling music into playful visual formal arrangements. Through the process of interpretation, appropriation, and transformation Hansen acts as both artist and composer. The artist’s use of colour and gesture represent his response to the sounds and feelings experienced while painting. Hansen arranges visual elements – bold primary colour fields, ascending and descending shapes, punctuated with different hues – to evoke an embodied visual and sensory experience.
Abide with Me
2021
archival pigment print on acid free 250gm rag paper
limited edition print, ed. 20
8.5 x 11 inches / 11 x 14 inches matted
Abide with Me
Well, You Needn’t
2021
archival pigment print on acid free 250gm rag paper
limited edition print, ed. 20
8.5 x 11 inches / 11 x 14 inches matted
Well, You Needn't
“Colour and gesture represent my response to the sounds I’m hearing and feeling as I work on a painting. Each work revolves around a specific piece of improvised jazz or experimental music. I find the restructuring of the form to add an exciting dimension to what was now-becoming what can be.”
Mike Hansen
The series takes its name from Thelonious Monk’s iconic 1957 EP Monk’s Music. With this project, Hansen expands his sustained artistic exploration of sound, noise and music found in his Remix painting series. Presented as a limited-edition collector’s portfolio, each piece relates to one of the songs from the six track EP. This focused examination of a singular album allows Hansen to explore the unique character of each song: visualizing John Coltrane’s buoyant horn solo in “Well, You Needn’t”; the dulcet swelling opening progression in “Abide by Me”; and the soft intimate crooning tones found in “Ruby, My Dear”.
Ruby, My Dear
2021
archival pigment print on acid free 250gm rag paper
limited edition print, ed. 20
8.5 x 11 inches / 11 x 14 inches matted
Ruby, My Dear
Mike Hansen, Monk’s Music Series
Second Floor, Lonsdale Gallery
Off Minor
2021
archival pigment print on acid free 250gm rag paper
limited edition print, ed. 20
8.5 x 11 inches / 11 x 14 inches matted
Off Minor
The works echoe the lyricism and spontaneity of jazz, channeling Monk’s unorthodox interconnected improvisational style. Hansen acknowledges the shared history and aesthetic exchange between the genesis of modern abstract art and jazz in the early twentieth century. Recognized as one of the first creators of modern jazz, Monk’s cultural legacy is rooted in the vanguard New York School, with its focus on expanding the sonic possibilities of free musical expression. Hansen illustrates the tension between improvisation and structure. The fluid colourful interconnected forms serve as visual analogies designed to capture the ethos and energy of Monk’s expressive compositions.
“For 20 years I hosted a weekly jazz radio program in Toronto, Canada. Every week on the program I played a Thelonious Monk composition, introducing with the saying “A day without Monk is like a day without sunshine”, this saying still follows me today. Monk has a strong hold on my heart.”
Mike Hansen
Epistrophy
2021
archival pigment print on acid free 250gm rag paper
limited edition print, ed. 20
8.5 x 11 inches / 11 x 14 inches matted
Epistrophy
Light Blue
2021
archival pigment print on acid free 250gm rag paper
limited edition print, ed. 20
8.5 x 11 inches / 11 x 14 inches matted
Crepuscule With Nellie
Imbued with playful and spirited sense of expressiveness, Hansen’s latest series taps into the artist’s life-long love of jazz, creative exploration, the subjective experience of listening to music, and it’s ability to transport audiences.
media used in this online exhibition is protected by Fair Use, under section 29, 29.1 or 29.2 of the Copyright Act of Canada, for commentary, criticism, education and transformative use.
Mike Hansen, Monk’s Music Series
Second Floor, Lonsdale Gallery
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