When I look back through all the notes scribbled daily in sketchbooks or conversations I've had about my work, I've settled on the fact that my approach to painting is that of a diarist. My mood dictates what I'm going to do, I know that my sense of humour figures prominently in my work, that I enjoy the absurd, the juxtaposition of objects and working in a series, over time these elements have become where I start when I sit down to draw and hopefully I end up with a few pages of sketches that I can take to the easel to try.
I strongly believe that the only rules for my work are that there are no rules. Every idea is a good idea, no matter how strange (Deep Sea Diver musicians, Cowboys riding chickens, Women who turn into bouquets of flowers etc.) and is worth attempting, as long as the composition and technical work is sound.
I have a very simple structure, I take two things and put them together in a composition, more often than not, they are two things that are possible, presented in a unique way, a woman sleeping in a tree, a woman holding an axe, it is the presentation that makes it mine, anyone can choose to represent these things, that they are practical, mundane, but shown in the medium of painting through my eye, that's my style in a nutshell.
I try to avoid identity, I like to try to reach for the universal, removing the identity of the figure has been a great success to demonstrate this, the viewer can insert themselves into the image this way. If I render a face, a distinct kind of clothing (as opposed to the neutral black, white and brown clothes that I use as a uniform for my figures) it distracts from the simplicity of the image. The simple image, the "impact" picture is what I'm looking for, you have to see it and get what's going on, if it gets muddled along the way it's time to start over. This has been the dominant element of my "style" or "visual language" for the past two or three years, it's what I am known for.
People note that I'm pretty prolific, I post a finished piece or work in progress almost every two days, but this is all I do, it's my only job. I paint nine hours a day, five days a week, so I hope that I would be called, "prolific", otherwise I'm just wasting a hell of a lot of time. It's my favourite thing to do, it always has been, since I was five years old, painting has been my constant, I was lucky to find it early, I'm still chasing it down to this day.
A.S.Hahn
To see more of Andrew "Shay" Hahn's paintings, visit his blog. You can buy them, too.
