Artist of the Week: Desmond Hansen
by Seattle Refined on April 23, 2022 | Link to full article on Seattle Refined
Desmond Hansen's mission is to bring murals — of all shapes and sizes — to the world. You can find more than 60 murals by Hansen in Seattle on traffic signal boxes.
Seattle Refined: How long have you been creating? What mediums do you work with?
Desmond Hansen: I have been drawing since I was a young child. At about the age of 11, you would often catch me drawing cartoons, shoes and comic book characters. I was 14 the first time I tried making art with spray paint, and it didn't come out that good at all. In fact, I remember setting up my ping pong table upright so I could try painting a Bart Simpson. I was influenced by graffiti initially, as well as comic books and lowrider art. My preferred mediums to work with are acrylic spray paint murals, oil paintings, pencil portraits, digital illustrations and wood burnings.
Can you tell us about your artistic process and how the different stages work into it?
My process varies from time to time depending on what medium I'm working in and the project at hand. If I am designing and painting a large mural, I usually start my process by gathering, through photoshoots, image references and motifs to bring into a digital design workstation where I design under the guides of whichever project I have my mind set to. Once the dimensions of the wall have been calibrated, I then go to the wall surface, and I prep and prime the surface. I then scribble a grid that consists of dots, letters and symbols on the blank primed wall. I then take photographs of the wall from the desired perspective. I then render the design in a way that I can layout the first pass "rough sketch" on the wall showing proportions and shadows. Then I begin the real glamorous part of painting the design on the wall, starting with the darkest colors. Once the wall looks how I want it to, I let it cure 24 hours before varnishing or clear-coating.
Tell us about where your inspiration for your art comes from.
My inspiration comes from murals of the world and all the ways colors influence each other. I'm very inspired by art that tells a story. I'm oftentimes influenced by art that is very far from the type I myself create. I am inspired by lowrider art and culture. I'm definitely influenced by graffiti and oil paintings.
Do you have a specific "beat" you like best – nature, food, profiles, etc.?
I'm a fan of nature, and I'm most at peace when I'm walking on hikes with my family. So many artistic qualities and designs are presented to us in nature. If you sat with a sketchbook and pencil in the wild, you would have no end of things to illustrate in detail.
Do you have one piece of art that means more to you or is extremely special to you?
I have a canvas that I painted for my Father that is very near and dear to me, but I actually think I like all the pieces I've painted. I understand that I've always been very transparent with my work, so you can see an honest progression throughout time. Some pieces I've painted have been ambitious undertakings that always surprise me and make me happy. As artists, we know that the happiness from one piece painted is temporary and is followed by a longing to paint again. I love all my creations — even the ones I scrapped before finishing.
What experiences in your life have affected your art the most?
I have analyzed my situation in art to no end, and I think I was most affected by a moment when I was very young, maybe 9 or 10, when I was with my mom at a Seattle festival called Folklife, and I was handed a box of sidewalk chalk. They told me to draw smiley faces in as many places as I could. I was on a mission. I remember drawing one at the feet of a policeman on watch. He smiled, and I knew it hit him right where it should. Then later in life, I went a little wild with graffiti, and it kind of became an obsessive lifestyle. In my mid-twenties, I finally found balance and realized all the opportunities I had botched. This made me consciously decide to make sure to paint to the best of my capabilities every time I'm given an opportunity to shine. Also, I came to the realization that I would benefit from the subtraction of my ego from my art or, in other words, spend less time screaming my own name in my art. Graffiti culture is built on this, and in my case, it consumed my art, and I neglected to see that for a very long time.
If we want to see more of your work, where should we go to find it?
Most of my work can be seen in West Seattle and Queen Anne, but basically all throughout Seattle. I will be releasing a map app soon on my new website
What is next for you? Anything you're working on right now that you're really excited about?
I'm excited to move into the spring-summer season of mural painting and hopefully for people to regain their sense of freedom and togetherness. Happiness is very important to the quality of life and the absorption of art into the heart and minds.
Lastly, how do you take your coffee? (We ask everyone!)
As far as coffee goes, I enjoy a chai tea latte from time to time or a pumpkin spice latte, but it is a rare occasion for me. My wife is the big coffee drinker in the family. I tend to get the jitters from coffee which then kind of affects my sleep schedule. I had a cappuccino in Germany one time that I swear made me hallucinate.