Hanna Hannah: Frames of War

An exhibition of paintings by Santa Cruz-based artist Hanna Hannah.

Frames of War*  is an exhibition of new paintings by Santa Cruz-based artist Hanna Hannah that exposes a stark confrontation of terror and beauty. Hannah creates her works using fine brushes, casein paint and mixed media on paper. The exhibition include fifteen floor-length panels resembling wallpaper as well as a series of formally framed works.

Through these paintings, Hannah continues her exploration of embedding images of war and destruction into highly decorative motifs by creating a startling mash-up of floral patterns and idyllic landscapes with meticulously rendered scenes of war and aftermath sourced from the media. The result is a jarring experience as the viewer is seduced by the beauty of the steady, meditative ornamental patterns and then boldly confronted by scenes of human suffering and despair cradled in the center of each painted panel. In describing the ongoing narrative in her work Hannah explains that, “The scenes of aftermath, destruction and suffering [of war] that have made their way into the heart of my work are ones that come to us all through the ever-sharper technological acuities of the mass media. These images proliferate to such an extent that, like the air we breathe, they are never not there for me.”   The works on view in Frames of War were created over a three year-period beginning in 2008.

Hannah lectures and teaches painting and drawing in the Art Department at the University of California Santa Cruz. She has an M.A. in French studies from Tufts University, and an M.F.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute. Hannah was born in El Salvador where her parents lived after emigrating from Germany. She moved to the U.S. in 1957. Hannah has exhibited her work since the late 1970s with solo exhibits at the Schmidt/Dean Gallery in Philadelphia; Braunstein Quay Gallery, San Francisco; and Miami University Art Museum, Ohio. Hannah’s group shows include History’s Mirror at the Palo Alto Art Center; Collapsing Histories   at Gallery éf, Tokyo; For the Birds at Geoffrey Young Gallery in Great Barrington, Massachusetts; Articles of Faith at the Philadelphia Art Alliance; and Works on Paper at the Las Vegas Art Museum. Hannah’s work can be found in collections at the Miami University Art Museum, Oxford, OH; Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz; and the Palace of the Legion of Honor (Achenbach Foundation), San Francisco.

* In grateful acknowledgement of Judith Butler’s book of the same title.