Elias Hansen

Hansen’s work has been shown in galleries and museums since 2004. Hansen uses light as subject and material to explore elemental and artificial occurrences in nature and the studio.

Elias Hansen’s multidimensional installations are precisely staged and have a Do it Yourself / handmade aesthetic. His works often combine contrasting objects—elegant hand-blown glass ambiguously juxaposed alongside discarded materials like light bulbs or rubber tubing. Handmade wooden tabletops or shelving also frequently occupy Hansen’s work.

The artist spent several important years living with his brother, Oscar Tuazon, and friends on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, where the men were inspired to create from the natural, woody materials available around them. These disparate elements existing simultaneously in his sculptures have a twofold effect: on the one hand, Hansen’s installations reliably tackle dialogue relating to the social value of objects, particularly the distinction between prized possessions and designated trash. On the other hand, his staged scenarios offer slightly unsettling narratives, which hint at drug laboratories and the nearby or recent occurrence of illicit behavior.

Elias’ work is in the permanent collections of the Seattle Art Museum in Seattle, Tacoma Art Museum in Tacoma, Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington in Seattle, Boise Art Museum in Boise, Colleción Jumex in Mexico City. He lives and works in New York City and Seattle, Washington.

Elias Hansen attended the New Orleans School of Glass and Print in New Orleans and the Larson Red Angus Ranch in Big Timber, MT in 2001. He also studied printmaking under Master Printer Keiko Hara at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA from 1997 to 2001. He subsequently attended the University of Ohio in Columbus, OH as an Artist in Residence in 2011.

Elias Hansen (born 1979) is an American sculptor, glass sculptor and installation artist.