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.

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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 and Southwest Contemporary magazines. Other publications include contributions for the catalogues of the 2018 Austin Fusebox Festival and the 2019 Contemporary Art Museum Plainview exhibition, Rural Elements. She curates the annual $#%& Show in Lubbock at 5&J Gallery, now in it's 7th year. She lives in the 600+ person town of Cloudcroft, New Mexico with her husband, daughter, and dog.

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CV:

2020

Contemporary Art Museum Plainview (online COVID-19 auction) CAMP, Plainview, TX

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$&%# Show 2020 (Curator) 5&J Gallery @CASP, Lubbock, TX

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2019

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The Menteur Magazine 2019, Paris, France (Painting published: "Fishing" 2017)

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CASPFEST, Lubbock, TX, Juried Exhibition (juror: Christina Rees)

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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