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              Industrial Planes

                                                  

                                               The Art of Michael Hanna

 

My art is a culmination from a lifetime of training and experimentation, a style which I refer to as industrial planes. Planes, as in a different realm of reality which exist in parallel to our own and industrial in reference to the forms and structure found in my art. The key element in the paintings is tension from many variables, which in essence makes the work quite complex.

 

The shapes I choose are forms created to provoke an emotional response from the viewer. Shapes are implemented to create tension through harsh jagged lines but the composition is arranged to be harmonious and orderly, further enhancing the tension. Juxtaposition occurs with the contrast between dark, muted, and bright colors. There are three dimensional elements to forms but also areas that are deliberately flat to remind the viewer the work is not simply an illusion. The constant feeling of motion through irregular asymmetrical forms, linearity, rough brushwork, and texture leave impressions of a realm of great struggle and dynamic unique mystical physics. The collaboration of all the elements may leave the viewer with the interpretation of ambiguous mystery and controlled chaos.

 

In all formats of my art; paintings, experimental paintings, drawings, and digital, there is a theme of a cyberpunk culture. My experimental paintings with oil on steel, electronic components, and crystals, have an analysis of a deeply exotic, hi-tech future, in a state of social collapse. Which is why I specifically refer to these types of paintings as "cyberpunk". The crude fusion of electronics, crystals, and steel with oil paint becomes metaphorical towards the integration of the synthetic to the natural, biology with technological nightmare and aesthetics. The crystals also being allegories towards a world increasingly ravenous towards the consumption of natural resources, whether it be lithium, petroleum, or perhaps even crystals. The exotic depictions of machinery and robotics integrated with its surroundings in the paintings further enhance the qualities of the tension between the natural and synthetic. The oil on canvas paintings also have elements of cyberpunk but also an integration of mystical and paranormal overtones. With emerging advanced technologies such as fusion, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and biological engineering, I believe it is my role as an artist to address the age I live in.  As a world of ever increasing reliance on technology, the destabilization and collapse of nations from the Middle East to Ukraine, and the increasingly authoritarian and oligarchic structure of Western society. Along with providing perceptions as to the social reaction, context, and rebellion of our transition to an age of trans-humanism. Because of these complex issues, technologies, implied ramifications and assimilation, I make art which is complex and cerebral.

 

The transhuman digital art I create has a strategy of having the viewer absorb vast quantities of information through transcendent visual stimulation. Each digital work of art I create is derived from dozens of images, dozens of layers, and a diversified amount of alteration techniques. The images are not only derived from what I capture with my digital camera, but also targeted with my computer, the information which I am selectively exposed to. My digital art emerges from a combination of my own digital photography , which usually contain subjects of an industrial nature or subjects which could serve as a practical layering  procedure, screenshots taken with my computer of YouTube videos, myself playing video games, imagery captured from news websites, internet search engines, and even images of my own drawings and paintings. The synthesis of this melting and alteration procedure into creating a single image prevails towards an endeavored collusion of metaphor and direct perception at the same time. 

 

Industrial is a metaphor for the process behind each executed piece. For me, the process of making art is as important as the final result to emphasize an art which can be deeply analytical and influential. The idea behind each work becomes an observation of the world and creating a parallel plane of illusion as an interpretation which breaks down with seemingly uncharacteristic and unrelated traits. In essence, the art can be treated as a universe of their own in an expanded consciousness which has deeper understanding of our perception pertaining to the world around us. 

 

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