The finished work finally appeared on June 16, 2023, with the same title but major changes to the subject. All three of the primary figures now build a tower of cheese out of the water. The cheese blocks the grotesque aspects of the central woman, although her gourd breasts now rest on a platter teetering on a cheese ledge, with one of the grape bunches and the pomegranate also remaining. The gourd and fruit thus disembodied somehow take on more of a
central role, shifting from genitalia to the crude outline of a face. Don’t get me wrong: There is a hot dog below the pumpkins, and it is still very genitalia-like, but it also looks more like a standalone face.
It should not surprise, then, that Hansel sees humor as a necessary part of the creative process. Many of his paintings display a wit for visual metaphor, the unexpected turn that can elicit a chuckle. But part of that is the tenderness that he brings to each work. The viewer can feel a real sense of empathy for the characters—their loves, their lusts.
And, of course: Joy! There is a genuine love for life that exudes from Hansel’s work. “Dancing on the Toes of Our Shadows” is a particularly tender example. Hansel will frequently allude to personal flourishes he puts in his work. Little touches that are not necessarily meant to connect with audiences, just for himself. In “Shadows,” the main figures dancing on the table are himself and his wife, imagined decades older than they are.
We fall in love with their love. We sense something deeper than the wine spilling everywhere, or the reverie on the face of the fiddler with pots stacked on his head. It is the way the dancers hold each other’s hand—their gaze lost and adoring. His work just as often hones in on these private displays of affection as the gaudy orgies, the seaside games. Their laughter and tittering are infectious. We want to be there. We want to feel that happy.
“A decent stand-in for the algebra of creativity could be Humor + Pathos + Virtuosity = Good Art,” the artist suggests. “Now, how much you let that humor show up in the end product is a matter of taste and temperament. However, I have always been open to letting it in when it doesn’t seem forced or arbitrary. Humor is so intrinsically human that it is hard to imagine art without it. Having said that, I remember when I first came to NY and thought that going to jazz clubs seemed like something that a sophisticated person would do. So I would frequent clubs in the village even though I (to this day) have never developed a real fondness for music. I remember there was a fairly frequent occurrence where a musician would end a two-minute-long free form solo with a stanza of a very simple and recognizable song. That might be ‘Happy Birthday’ or ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.’ Then the audience would
look around and a faint rumble of knowing laughter accompanied some finger snapping. I hate this kind of humor in art.”
Another factor which helps Hansel to seduce us toward his Morbid Delectatio is the human characters. We might be most likely to remember the beasts and the grotesques, but their human counterparts allow us to venture inward to the painting. They allow us something grounded amid the grandiose compositions and allusions to the great works of Western art.
And there is a reason that they all seem of the same world. Hansel’s primary inspiration for the human figures come from nudist colony advertisements from the 1960s and 1970s.
A DECENT STAND-IN FOR THE ALGEBRA OF CREATIVITY COULD BE HUMOR + PATHOS + VIRTUOSITY = GOOD ART. NOW, HOW MUCH YOU LET THAT HUMOR SHOW UP IN THE END PRODUCT IS A MATTER OF TASTE AND TEMPERAMENT.”
“They are an amazing reference for when you need a group of people playing volleyball naked or a nude woman with a beehive eating a piece of watermelon,” he says.
The figures based on these advertisements retain a sense of history without being foreign or quaint. As L.P. Hartley wrote, the past is a foreign country, they do things differently there. But Hansel is wise to avoid this trap. Using figures with styles from our recent past is like the short hop on a diving board that precedes the great leap into our deep history.
“I wanted to incorporate some of what I get from history paintings into these works,” says Hansel. “That grandiose nature, the drama, the dynamic compositions. But I didn’t want that to create a disconnect between the work and the audience, who live in the here and now. For me, those advertisements being from the 1960s cleared the most minimum bar of being just old enough to be history painting without being foreign. I also love the theoretical underpinnings of nudist colonies. They create a small universe where societal norms around shame are upended. It is analogous to what I am attempting with the Morbid Delectatio and lucky for us, nudist colonies loved to be photographed and put those in advertisements.”
When your tour of Hansel’s small universe ends, you descend back into the real world. There may be an adjustment period. Withdrawal symptoms may linger. For one, we wear clothes. And the demons we face can be less than friendly. Grotesque is a bad word, but maybe it shouldn’t be. Maybe you have a new appreciation for cheese and the parts of your body that it can balance on. Maybe you want to go to the beach more often, or wherever it is that makes you feel vital and centered. Life is gruesome enough. So go take joy in something delightful.*
This article was first published in Hi-Fructose Issue 70. You can still get a copy of the full issue in print here.