Home ART AT 41 Chester: Dirty Hans: Hans Goes Pop
ART AT 41 Chester: Dirty Hans: Hans Goes Pop
Venue: ART AT 41
Dates: 30/07/2016 - 13/08/2016
ART AT 41 Chester
30th July – 13th August (Launch night 29th July 6pm)
ART AT 41 presents a two week exhibition dedicated to one of the most exciting up and coming British Pop artists, Dirty Hans. Dirty Hans: Hans Goes Pop will be the first British exhibition dedicated to the artist, exploring the iconography within his contemporary urban forms.
Born and raised in Liverpool, Dirty Hans directed his hyperactive and disruptive tendencies into his art. However, it was only after viewing Roy Lichtenstein and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec's work that this cathartic passion became a serious, all consuming career for Dirty Hans. It is clear to see how these pioneering Pop artists are ever present in his work. Dirty Hans battles against concepts of high art by utilising images of popular iconography: Audrey Hepburn, comic book characters, musicians, fictional film characters, politicians, and even the Royal Family. Dirty Hans taps into the endless supply of Western visual cultural history and turns these tropes on their head to fit his personal narrative and twisted sense of humour. Dirty Hans has recently made the transition from acrylics, collages, and spray paints to digital based art. This allows for a freedom in Hans' approach to digital art; the screen is a physical canvas that he can manipulate, adding both relief and depth to what is a strictly two-dimensional surface.
2016 has undoubtedly been the breakthrough year for Dirty Hans. With Instagram and Shopify sites originally serving as the only vehicle for his unique message, it was his presence in the physical space of ART AT 41 that has steadily seen the demand and value for his originals and signed limited editions increase. This commitment to giving online independent artists a physical platform to promote their work has become central to the new ART AT 41 philosophy of discover, promote, and develop. However, regardless of this new found success Dirty Hans insists on keeping the majority of his edition numbers as low as 40; an exclusive and anti-establishment mentality, the reverberations of which can be felt in his sometimes jarring and individual pop stylings.
Dirty Hans has exhibited in Antwerp, Brussels, Toronto, Paris, Berlin, and Miami. Building on the success of their Sir Peter Blake Exhibition of September 2015, Dirty Hans: Hans Goes Pop is a distinct and progressive change in direction for ART AT 41. With an in-house DJ as well as award-winning cocktails provided by the local boutique bars The Suburbs & At The Hollows, this launch night reflects their new mission of becoming the prime destination for exciting, urban contemporary art in the North West.
Launch night starts at 6pm on Friday July 29th. With numbers for the guest list strictly limited. The exhibition will run for two weeks.