Artist Statement:
Observational painting is an act of living through sight: noticing subtle shifts in color, the edges and space between things. I try to leave paintings in the “ala prima” stage, where I spend an hour or two at most working on them, the paint still wet. Mostly I paint from photographic resources and memory: my own, and found images on Google search. The seemingly arbitrary nature of how images are paired in internet searches inspires my work. For instance, the search “cezanne” brings forth many of his paintings, but also others’ tributary paintings, like someone else’s still-life of avocados. I obsessively screenshot my friends’ social media posts as reference materials, and I equally obsessively don’t share my daughter’s face online. I have finally found a censored way to paint her, through pixelated images. The element of color theory, as I mix each square, with the image devoid of any figure/ground drawing hierarchy due to the pixilation is a relief and burden. As I re-render the images I find on the screen, my mind envisions the parameters of an algorithm weighing dozens of variables, in comparison to the intense, singular focus of representational painting.
Hannah Celeste Dean is a painter with recent exhibitions including the 2019 Assistance League Houston Celebrates Texas Art (curated by Whitney NY assistant curator Jennie Goldstein), The Fifth Annual Juried Exhibition at Artspace111 (curated by Christina Rees, Editor at Glasstire), TX 17 Biennial, Rising Eyes of Texas 2014 and 2015, and publications including The Menteur Magazine Annual 2019 (Kent University in Paris), New American Paintings MFA Annual #111, and Art Tour International Summer Issue 2016. She has been a finalist in the Hunting Art Prize 2014 and 2015. Her illustrations have been published in the California Law Review and the Harvard Journal of the Legal Left. Her work is in private collections around the globe and is sold through Saatchi Art Online and Charles Adams Gallery in Lubbock. Prints of her work are available through Artfully Walls and Anthropologie. Hannah founded The Bowerbird and occasionally writes for Glasstire magazine. Other publications include contributions for the catalogues of the 2018 Austin Fusebox Festival and the 2019 Contemporary Art Museum Plainview exhibition, Rural Elements. She lives in her hometown of Artesia, New Mexico with her husband and daughter.
CV:
2019
The Menteur Magazine 2019, Paris, France (Painting published: "Fishing" 2017)
CASPFEST, Lubbock, TX, Juried Exhibition (juror: Christina Rees)
Assistance League of Houston Celebrates Texas Art 2019, Houston, TX (juror: Jennie Goldstein, Assistant Curator, Whitney Museum NY)
2018
Before the Renovation, Collaboration with Chad Plunket, LHUCA, Lubbock, TX
On The Reverse Side, Collaboration with Chad Plunket, South Plains College Gallery, Levelland, TX
Fifth Annual Juried Exhibition, Artspace111, Fort Worth, TX (juror: Christina Rees, Editor-in-Chief Glasstire Magazine)
Juried Exhibition, Overland Park, KS
33rd Annual International Exhibition, UT Tyler, TX
2017
TX 17 Biennial , Austin, TX (Juror: Leslie Moody Castro)
$&@# Show, Lubbock, TX (Curator)
2016
60th Anniversary Art Faculty Exhibition LCU, CAA Galleries
Art Tour International Magazine Summer Issue
2015
Children of Privilege, Dendroica Gallery, Seattle WA
Drawn, Quartered, TTU Satellite Gallery, Lubbock, TX
Perpetual Insight Invited Group Exhibition, The Galleries, Concord, NC
Hunting Art Prize 2015 Finalist, Houston, TX
The Rising Eyes of Texas Rockport Center For the Arts, Rockport, TX
(details) Thesis Show, LHUCA, Lubbock, TX
2014
FRC Presents: 186000 Miles Per Second LHUCA, Lubbock, TX
Cadence Lecture, TTU, Lubbock, TX
Verbing Painting: MACAA Conference Presenter/Panel Member, San Antonio, TX Chair: Christie Blizard Panel: Judy Rushin, Joomi Chung
Visiting Artist UTSA: Studio Critique of Painting MFAs, San Antonio, TX
FRC Presents: Hey Diddled 5&J Gallery, Lubbock, TX
TTU MFA Exhibit: Landmark Arts Gallery, Lubbock, TX
60-Dollar Studio Project Portable Studio, Junction, TX
Solar-Powered Painting Workshop McDonald Observatory, Fort Davis, TX
Saatchi Online “Invest in Art” Featured Artist, Curated by Rebecca Wilson
Button Up: FRC Collaboration with The Button Project- Garden and Arts Center - Lubbock, TX
Jon Whitfill and the FRC Present: Pi- 5&J CASP- Lubbock, TX
Hunting Art Prize 2014 - Final Round TYart- Houston, TX
Rising Eyes of Texas 2014- Juried by Chris Davila of San Antonio- Rockport Center of the Arts, Rockport, TX
New American Paintings Issue #111 Spring 2014 MFA Annual- Juried by Lisa D. Frieman of VCU Institute of Contemporary Art
FRC Street Cinema- Film Graffiti on the side of the Icehouse, March 2014- Lubbock, TX
$%&* I Made Today- 24 hr cardboard installation show- Free Range Creatives January 2014- 5&J Studios, Lubbock, TX
BOX from Marfa: Artists Pondering Compartmentalization- LHUCA Satellite Gallery- Lubbock, TX
BOX Marfa- Nomadic Gallery in a Penske Truck- Marfa, TX
WELCOME BACK: A Selection of Faculty and MFA Candidate Artwork- LHUCA Satellite Gallery- Lubbock, TX
"Mark...", Experimental Drawing Exhibition, South Plains College, Levelland, TX, March-April 2013
Spring Juried Exhibition (2nd Place Prize), Museum of the Southwest, Midland, TX, March-April 2013
TTU MFA Exhibit, South Plains College, Levelland, TX February-March 2013
LCU Alumni EXhibit, LCU Galleries, Lubbock, TX, January-February 2013, 2012 (Featured Artist) 2011, 2010
Nativity Exhibition, Lubbock Community Exhibition, Church of Latter Day Saints, December 2012
New This Week, Saatchi Online Exhibition, December 3-10, 2012
"Reveal: Current Trends in ArtMaking", Process Art House, Amarillo, TX November-December 2012
Dia De Los Muertos, Landmark Arts Gallery, Lubbock, TX, October-November 2012
TASA Group Exhibition, Blue Star Gallery, San Antonio, TX, October 2012.
MFA Group Show, Nomadic Gallery, Marfa, TX, October 2012
"Portraits" Solo Exhibition, J and B, Lubbock, TX, October 2012
MFA Group Show, Landmark Arts Gallery, Lubbock, TX September 2012
Fifth Friday Art Walk, InBetween Gallery, Slaton, TX, August 2012
Fifth Friday Art Walk, InBetween Gallery, Slaton, TX May 2012
LCU Alumni Exhibition, LCU, Lubbock, TX, April 2012
Gallery Visit, Tilte Gallery, Childress, TX, February 2012
Art in the Park Arts Festival, Artesia, NM, October 2011
LCU Alumni Exhibition, LCU, Lubbock, TX, April 2011- Featured Artist
"i.you" Solo Exhibition, Landmark Arts Gallery, Lubbock, TX, May 2011
"Photos Graphein", Flat 1312, Lubbock, TX, May 2011
PO Box 98881 Solo Exhibition, Flat 1312 (and Online Exhibit) February 2011
Veils Pt. 1, Flat 1312, Lubbock, TX, December 2010
LCU Spring Exhibition, LCU, Lubbock, TX, Spring 2009