“PARIS” by Dean Hanson is a retrospective show of over 100 photographs taken over the past 14 years in Paris, France, printed on silver gelatin paper in the darkroom.
It was not until the late Eighties that Hanson discovered his love of photography. When he left his Oregon State University position, he traveled to Paris, an experience that has had a lasting influence on his artistic development.
Hanson states, “In 1999, I rented an atelier in Paris and spent the next two months studying and working at my craft. This is the place I learned to be a photographer, and the place I began to understand what it is to be an artist.
“It is a city where nothing changes, and yet, a city where everything changes. The past and the present live side by side. It is there one can walk in the footsteps of the greatest artists and philosophers of the past… From De Vinci to Picasso, Paris has accepted and nurtured art and artists for hundreds of years.”
In all aspects of his photography, he tries to keep the technical part as simple as possible. “…when I intend to work, I carry one camera, one lens and a light meter. I photograph with available light, hand held so no other equipment is necessary. The most difficult part of creating art is the artistic expression itself, not the technique or the equipment used,” says Hanson.
Hanson has returned many times to Paris, both to continue making photographs and to show his work. His primary subjects are the human form and scenes from his travels throughout the world. His work may be found in the archives at the Foundation Henri Cartier-Bresson, as well as many private collections in Europe, the United States and the South Pacific.
“PARIS” is Hanson’s Paris, subtle, graphic, sensitive, and sometimes almost ethereal. Working with film in the darkroom, he can spend hours printing one negative to produce the final image.
Hanson’s exhibit is a rare opportunity in these modern times to view a body of work presented with the traditional hand printed techniques that in just a few years have faded into the background as digital photography and printing continue to advance.