"“We Used To Get So High,” an exhibition of new work by Elias Hansen, is that redemptive look back while at the same time laying bare the problems and impotence of hindsight. Working with found objects and meticulously crafted glass, sculptural and photographic elements, Hansen imbues his ad hoc constructions with poetically-weighted meditations on place, history and memory. There are three strains distinct to Northwest aesthetics informing Hansen’s work—the handmade, the utilitarian and the spiritually-charged. Tapping the revolutionary energy of the outmoded, the work’s back woods, d.i.y. look was born out of the formative years he spent on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula with his brother and friends who were compelled to create but constrained by the materials and objects that were on hand. These youthful collaborations in the traditions of 70s countercultures, utopian thought and alternative lifestyles have continued into his mature work producing major projects with the same set of friends in museums, institutions and art spaces throughout the world. Although his visual vernacular is associated with the Pacific Northwest, Hansen’s pathologic deployment of these materials and forms give them power beyond the place itself; their specificity of origin belying their universal spirit and import. His objects, moments and recollections are handed down, not for the sake of nostalgia alone, but become our charge for reflection and transmission. This is the artist’s first one-person exhibition with the gallery."
April 1-May 8, 2010
Hours
Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 am - 5:30 pm
Or by appointment
831 Airport Way S., Seattle, WA 98134
(206) 501-1231 
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