When Sarah Hanssen inherited her father’s vast portfolio of abstract expressionist paintings, she was unsure at first about what to do with the collection. Many of us wrestle with similar questions in the wake of a parent’s death, as we find ourselves in the possession of their boxes of ephemera, years of files and documents. For Hanssen, the issue was more complex. Her father, the artist Peter Hanssen, was also her abuser.
As they were, the paintings elided crucial aspects of who her father was and what he had done, his sensibility as an artist and his role, in Hanssen’s life, as sexual abuser. About a year ago, Hanssen took his paintings down from her walls, deciding she could no longer surround herself with the vestiges of her trauma. Confronted with the blankness left behind in their absence, though, she found that merely taking them down was not enough. How, then, to proceed? Baked into that practical concern was a more fundamental question: How can we move past trauma? This is the question at the heart of “Two Things Are True,” on view at Distortion Society in Beacon through January 31.
Hanssen decided that in order for the paintings to return to her walls, they would need to change form. Their metamorphosis began in February of last year. Hanssen dropped off paintings with three artist friends with a simple assignment: transform them. Some of the artists painted over the works, others entirely deconstructed them, building something new with their constituent parts. While it began with friends, word of Hanssen’s project traveled fast. The idea snowballed. Now, over 30 artists have made contributions, using a wide array of approaches to reconstitute the artwork. Their methods are informed by their own approaches to art, as well as to their specific relationships with both Hanssen and their ideas around sexual abuse and grief. There is no money exchanged. The transformed artworks have all been gifted back to Hanssen by the artists; the project is an expression of community care.
Read the full article here: https://www.chronogram.com/arts/two-things-are-true-at-distortion-society-in-beacon-22444895
