Unbelievable Lifelike Sculptures by Duane Hanson
Duane Hanson
was an American artist based in South Florida but born in Minnesota,
renowned for his lifecast realistic works of people. Since the early
1970’s Duane Hanson has been making startlingly lifelike sculptures of
middle America accomplished through a complex process of casting from
live models, recreated in bronze or fibreglass resin.
Works that
first brought him notice were of figures grouped in tableaux, usually
of brutal and violent subjects, somewhat similar to the work of Edward
Keinholz. Hanson's Abortion (1966) was inspired by the horrors of a
backroom procedure; Accident (1967) showed a motorcycle crash; and Race
Riot (1969–1971) included among its seven figures a white policeman
terrorizing an African American man as well as an African American
rioter attacking the policeman. Other works which dealt with physical
violence or other explosive social issues of the 1960s were Riot (1967),
Football Players (1969), and Vietnam Scene (1969).
These works,
cast from actual people, were made of fiberglass, painted to make the
revealed skin look realistic with veins and blemishes. Hanson then
clothed the figures with garments from second-hand clothing stores and
theatrically arranged the action.
Among
the many awards and accolades Hanson received before his death in
January 1996, he was perhaps most proud of those that identified him as a
Florida artist. In 1983, he was given the Ambassador of the Arts Award
of the State of Florida, and two years later he received the first
annual "Florida Prize" of $10,000 for his outstanding achievements in
sculpture.
