Hanna Jane Mandelbaum

Imagination, dreams and nature are at the core of Hanna Jane Mandelbaum’s work. Inspired by Catskill nostalgic and mythic beauty, her paintings take us into an imaginary journey through the enchanting American landscapes. The desire of escaping into a blissful but unattainable Eden pervades her work.

Infused with restless energy – while not in her studio she is constantly in motion, whether on her bike, afoot or aloft on trapeze – Hanna reflects the vitality that comes with an active lifestyle in her paintings. Her compositions invite visual meanderings along fractured spirals. Playing with volumes and precise contours she reduces natural forms to their geometrical equivalents. The creation of dynamic tensions between complementary colors and areas of light and dark deepens the sense of movement. Finally, the use of a cold palette – blue, white, green and red dominate the canvas – generates an almost hallucinatory sensation amplified by the paintings large size.

For the past year and a half Hanna has been concurrently developing two related series of paintings. “The Trail” series follows the travels of a hooded female figure along trails through forests, over mountains, in valleys and caves. ‘Up’ presents imagined skyward views through a veil of branches and leaves. Both groups of paintings explore nature and our relation to it. The paintings in “The Trail” are narrative and viewed together convey the story of an epic adventure. The ‘Up’ paintings present a disorienting perspective that invites an ecstatic viewing experience.

Born in 1981 in Kingston, New York, Hanna Jane Mandelbaum began drawing and painting in her childhood, receiving classical instruction at a young age. She graduated in Comparative Religion at the University of Chicago in 2001. After graduation she traveled around Europe, sketchbook in hand. She lived in Berlin for few months then returned in the US and began her professional painting career. Hanna moved to Brooklyn in 2004 and continues to paint in her Red Hook studio. In the past three years she has contributed to Brooklyn’s rich artistic community, participating in open studio events, and showing locally in group and solo exhibitions.

Hanna Jane Mandelbaum’s Website