Bryan Hansen's Projects

BFA Student

Major: Metalsmithing & Jewelry

Graduation Year: 2018

Artist Statement:

From birth we are surrounded by physical bodies that act as a buffer between ourselves and the physical world. As a species we learn and evolve through our interaction with the external. These specific thought processes used to understand and act in the world stay with us throughout our lives.
I fabricate or forge abstracted objects out of non precious metals and wood to mimic tool and toy ideology replicating the feeling of usability. By abstracting objects commonly related to the hand I hope to create a thread between the viewer and object that teases the imagination and begins a process of learning with the intent to understand. These are the same mental faculties we use when learning any new information. When confronted with one of these objects the mind attempts to make sense of it, how it can be held, and how the object would be used on an environment. Without the ability to finish “understanding” these objects, I hope to prolong the processes the mind uses when exploring new information and highlight the shortcuts and allowances the mind will take in its attempt to recognize and code other bodies, animate or inanimate.

Biography:

Bryan Hansen graduated with a BFA in metalsmithing and jewelry from Maine College of Art in 2018. He fabricates and forges non-precious metals into abstracted “tools”, removing the function and specific identification from the objects, leaving them almost unidentifiable. When faced with these objects the viewer imagines different methods for interacting with them. Hansen’s goal is to promote this exploration and highlight the ways our minds try to make sense of our environment. Being surrounded by them from youth, he has always been fascinated by handleable objects that mediate the interaction between the body and the external world and what this does cognitively for the user. Ranging from toiletries to tools, he has always held a firm interest in these common objects and how our minds determine our actions through them.