West to East - Chris Hann

About

Chris Hann was born on the Isle of Wight in 1946 and gained his degree in Fine Art at Portsmouth College of Art and his MA at the Slade School. He started exhibiting whilst at college and since 1963 has had over 100 exhibitions with work purchased by Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery, British Rail, Brighton University, Targetfollow London and City College Norwich. His work is in private collections in Great Britain, U.S.A., France, Switzerland, South Africa, Hong Kong and Bahrain.

After a lengthy teaching career at City College Norwich, NUA, Cornwall College and Barnfield College Luton, he finally retired from teaching in 2011 and devoted more time to his studio practice.

Chris says of his work ‘ Writing about one’s work is always difficult, that’s why I’m a painter and not a writer. My work invariably begins with drawing from observation, sometimes analytical, but often unsighted (not looking at the paper). From these initial drawings I play around with composition making small thumbnail drawings, before making larger scale finished works. Sometimes I use collage in the form of beermats as a starting point, which to some degree influences the composition. Close tone and complimentary colour is important in opening up or closing down space and I’m always aware that I’m working on a flat surface trying to contradict this flatness by using colour.

My work comes about through an amalgamation of drawings, occasionally photographs, Hepworth’s sculptures, memories and experiences. I’m often asked what the work is about. I’m attempting to evoke a feeling, a memory of place, not a specific place, although the titles allude to places, more an interpretation of how I see Cornwall.