For Immediate Release
Zenith Gallery Presents:
Great Moments in Art IV
Works by Stephen Hansen
Represented by Zenith Gallery for 42 years
Show Dates: October 9 – November 14, 2020
Restrictive Opening Reception: Friday October 9, 5-8PM & Saturday October 10, 2-6PM
Reserve your timed ticket through Eventbrite
1429 Iris Street, NW, Washington DC 20012-1409
Back by popular demand, we are giddy and rolling in laughter to present
“GREAT MOMENTS IN ART, IV”
In Stephen Hansen’s fourth Great Moments in Art show at Zenith he has meticulously recreated selections from centuries of painting and added his signature paper mache painters interacting with the paintings in ways both witty and surprising.
Hansen says, “I started the Great Moments series in 2014, to take a break from sculpture. Then I decided I wanted to paint more. After six years, it still resonates with me. Through this series I have developed late-in-life art appreciation. To quote Degas, “Painting is very easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do.”
Hansen continues, “The painters represent my thoughts while working on the painting. For example, with the Picasso one presumes abstraction, but what if the model really looked like that? Or, with the Cezanne, could you really expect the cat to leave the still life still?”
“Under the present circumstances, while painting The Japanese Footbridge, I was thinking about Monet. In 1914, at the beginning of the Great War, with the sound of artillery audible in Giverny, Monet said, “I shall stay here regardless, and if those barbarians wish to kill me, I shall die among my canvases, in front of my life’s work.” In Monet’s case, it might have been bravery; in mine it is avoidance.”
Hansen has had one-man shows in galleries and museums in Detroit, Chicago, Santa Fe, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Scottsdale, Palm Beach, and New York. His unique paper mache sculptures are included in museum, corporate, private, and government collections including the New Mexico Capitol Art Collection in Santa Fe, The Federal Reserve and Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and United States Embassies in Naples, Italy and Caracas, Venezuela.
Now celebrating 42 years in the nation’s capital, Zenith is recognized for its unique mix of contemporary art in a wide variety of media, style and subject. The gallery provides high-quality acquisition, art consulting, commissioning, appraisal and framing services, through its gallery/salon/ sculpture garden off 16th Street at 1429 Iris St NW, WDC20012. Zenith also curates rotating exhibits at the Eleven Sculpture Space at 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, WDC 20004.