“Duane Hanson” at London’s Serpentine Sackler Gallery is the first survey show in London since 1997 of the late American sculptor Duane Hanson who throughout his forty-year career created lifelike sculptures portraying ordinary, everyday working-class Americans as well as overlooked members of society — “those that do not stand out.”“I’m mostly interested in the human form as subject matter and means of expression for my sculpture,” Hanson said in 1981. “I'm not duplicating life, I'm making a statement about human values. I show the empty-headedness, the fatigue, the aging, the frustration. These people can't keep up with the competition. They’re left out, psychologically handicapped.”“Duane Hanson” features key works from the Hanson’s oeuvre that showcase his incredible talent for transforming what the Serpentine describes as “the banalities and trivialities of everyday life into iconographic material.” Highlights of the exhibition include “Man with Hand Cart” (1975), “Housepainter” (1984/1988), and “Queenie II” (1988).Hanson was thrust into the spotlight in 1965 when his sculpture of a young pregnant girl on a table covered in a white linen sheet, provocatively titled “Abortion,” caused widespread outrage. He continued to create sculptures that dealt with social misery and violence until the late 60s when he shifted to portraying everyday people, beginning with “Football Players” in 1968.According to Julia Peyton-Jones, director, and Hans Ulrich Obrist, co-director, Serpentine Galleries, “Duane Hanson’s iconic sculptures of ordinary people will literally stop visitors in their tracks this summer. Beyond the stunning realism, the power of Hanson’s work lies in his unwavering focus on and sympathy for the human condition.” Accompanying the exhibition is a presentation of 10 original Polaroid photographs, given by the Duane Hanson Estate, which feature a mixture of the original models used to inform a number of Hanson’s most notable pieces, and the pieces themselves installed in the artist’s studio.“Duane Hanson” is at London’s Serpentine Sackler Gallery from June 2-September 13, 2015.
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