Internationally-recognized multimedia artist Phil Hansen ended the year on the right foot as he was listed as one of the Twin Cities’ top artists of 2018 in City Pages, a publication located in the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. In the past year, Phil has worked on a plethora of projects, including a skull-shaped chair, a Guinness World Record holding connect-the-dots and many more.
Click here to read the full article and learn more about the Twin Cities’ Top Artists of 2018.
In honor of Phil’s accomplishment and in preparation for the new year, we are highlighting some of his greatest art pieces of 2018.
When I was 7
“When I was 7” is a project that took Phil all of 2017 to create. He did not unveil the piece until April 2018. The project itself is an immense drawing of Bana Alabed, a seven-year-old girl growing up in Syria during the war. Growing up in this environment, she witnessed mass bombings and violence in her home town of Aleppo.
Inspired by Bana’s experience as a seven-year-old, Phil sought out to collect other people’s stories from when they were seven. Each story highlights vastly different memories from the 1940s up until the 2000s. The drawing, which is composed of over 600 stories, shows the diverse experiences that so many people can have, even at the same age. The stories are fully documented in a book of the same title.
Impression Sports
Differing from his other pieces that are usually much larger in scale, Phil took this opportunity to create multiple smaller pieces as opposed to one giant work of art. There are 11 pieces in his Impression Sports collection, which are all made from his own fingerprints. Each image depicts a significant moment in sports. The iconic moments range from Muhammad Ali’s famous knockout to Micheal Phelp’s eighth gold during the Olympics.
Connect the Dots – Most Dots Ever
Another one of Phil’s biggest accomplishments of the year is when he broke a Guinness World Record for Most Dots in a Connect-the-Dots. For the piece, Phil incorporated 52,901 dots that connect to reveal Edward Curtis’ historical photograph of a Native American elder named Big Head.
Phil said the process of getting the world record approved took some time, as did the counting and re-counting of all the dots included in the piece. The piece took Phil a little over two years to complete.
Earth Post Mortem
Using twigs and branches as his medium, Phil drew a unique connection between nature and death in Earth Post Mortem.
For this project, Phil was mainly inspired by Victorian Era death photos in which families posed with a recently deceased relative. Many people today view this practice as odd, however, it is strangely similar to how people today take pictures with dying reefs and other natural life, Phil writes on his blog. Upon completion, Phil swept the twigs and branches away with a broom, destroying it as he does with many other pieces in his Goodbye Art series.
Sitting Alone in Our Future (Skull Chair)
In order to construct the perfect skull chair, Phil first had to sketch multiple ideas for how the chair would look. In his blog, he mentions that most of the skull chairs he came across either had the skull in the front or back of the chair, and the skull was always covered by either the person or the chair’s position.
Phil’s goal was to create a skull chair unlike any other, so eventually he came up with the concept of the skull serving as the actual chair. One thing Phil kept in mind while creating the chair was the idea of solitude. As a result, Phil designed the chair so it was possible to actually sit inside the skull, shielded from the rest of the world.
Snoop
For his final project of 2018, Phil created a portrait of Snoop Dogg made with just gin and juice. Watch the video below to see exactly how Phil used these unlikely materials to create a likeness of the rapper:
Book a Creativity & Innovation Keynote Speaker
In addition to creating impressive pieces of art, Phil Hansen also amazes audiences everywhere with his insightful keynote presentations about overcoming limitations and embracing the shake. As a keynote speaker, Phil encourages attendees to be as innovative and creative as possible in an effort to turn limitations into opportunities.
Phil is also able to bring his artistic abilities to the stage in an optional collaborative art project with attendees. As part of this experience (an additional cost to the keynote), attendees work together — following Phil’s guidance — to create one cohesive and outstanding work of art. If you’re interested in booking Phil to speak at your next event, please call 1.800.345.5607 or visit eaglestalent.com for more information.
