Hanna Bruer is an abstract artist in Madison, WI. Her expressionist paintings prominently feature illegible text imbedded in abstract layers and atmospheres. She has permanent installations throughout the midwest, including Northwestern Technical College and Dane County Credit Union. Bruer has worked with the National Alliance on Mental Illness for their Healing Art Shows, earning Best In Show Finalist in 2015. She has provided live painting performances at venues such as the Majestic Theater and Memorial Union Terrace in Madison, as well as for Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Gallery Nights. Her work and story have been featured in the Isthmus and Cap Times publications, as well as NBC15 News.
On top of an abstract atmosphere, the most identifiable aspect of her work is the use of text as imagery. The text is often an essay to herself; unspoken words of frustration and discovery involved with her daily fight for resilience. The importance of each gesture, word, and emotion reveal themselves in the layers of each piece. To combat self-doubt and insecurity, Hanna also offers her work as a performance, painting and baring her internal self in front of an audience. She converts a blank canvas into an active work of art, letting the bystander experience her creative process. |
Creation, contemplation, violence, destruction. My paintings are visual documentation of untold stories striving to find their voice. I draw my inspiration from inner dissonance, adverse experience, and unfailing resilience. Process holds the power to my work. I throw myself into each piece, attempting to unite the overbearing dichotomy of my being and to reach a temporary answer to an ever-changing question. Each piece is a complete thought jotted down and worked over until my brain has expelled its energy. The depth of my art lies in the impulse of the gesture, the emotion in the movement, and the pain of the unheard struggle. The use of text as image ties everything together to become not only a work of art, but an entire cathartic experience for both artist and audience. I aim for my work to inspire the viewer to wonder, to ask questions, and to reach inward for their own answers with reckless abandon. Dive in, design, emote, paint, expel, tell a story, repeat. |
PRESS, LINKS, + VIDEOS
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EXHIBITION RECORD
[*denotes group show] 2020 Solo Exhibition, Madison Squash Workshop, Madison WI (May-June) 2020 Fitch-Rona Art Crawl, Quivey's Grove, Fitchburg WI (March) 2019 Quiet Control, Monroe Arts Center, Monroe WI (December 2019 - March 2020) 2019 Solo Exhibition, GNP, Madison WI (April-June) 2019 Solo Exhibition, Quivey's Grove, Fitchburg WI (March) 2018 NAMI's 12th Annual Healing Art Show, Lakeside St Coffee, Madison WI (October-November)* 2018 Solo Exhibition, Hawks Quindel SC, Madison WI (October) 2018 Solo Exhibition, Industrious, Madison WI (May-July) 2018 Solo Exhibition, Synergy Coworking, Madison WI (August 2017 - May 2019) 2018 Fitch-Rona Art Crawl, Hop Haus Brewing, Verona WI (March) 2017 In All This Vastness, Gib's, Madison WI (November 2017 - January 2018) 2017 Solo Exhibition, Hawks Quindel SC, Madison WI (October) 2017 Solo Exhibition, Synergy Coworking, Madison WI (October) 2017 Solo Exhibition, Alchemy, Madison WI (June-August) 2016 Solo Exhibition, Lauer Realty Group, Madison WI (November) 2016 Dead and Buried, Fat City Emporium, Madison WI* (November) 2016 Homemade for the Holidays, Madison WI* (November) 2016 Fat City Emporium's First Friday Show, Winedown, Madison WI* (October) 2016 Fat City Emporium’s Gallery Night, Winedown, Madison WI* (October) 2016 Fat City Emporium’s Inaugural First Friday Show, Winedown, Madison WI* (July) 2016 Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Spring Gallery Night, Lauer Realty Group, Madison WI* (May) 2015 Solo Exhibition, Knupp & Watson & Wallman Advertising, Madison WI (May-July) 2015 Biting the Silver Tongue, Mother Fool’s Coffee House, Madison WI (June) 2015 NAMI Wisconsin’s 9th Annual Healing Art Show, VSA WI Gallery, Madison WI* Finalist: Best in Show (October-December) 2015 Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Gallery Night, VSA WI Gallery, Madison WI* (May) 2015 100Arts depART: Laika Boss, Madison WI* (May) 2013 RAW: Encompass, High Noon Saloon, Madison WI* (October) 2013 Solo Exhibition, Electric Earth, Madison WI (June-August) COMMISSIONS, VIDEOS, AND PERMANENT INSTALLATIONS 2019 Hawks Quindel Law Firm, Madison WI, Corporate Art Commission and Permanent Installation 2018 Sunseed Research LLC, Madison WI, Permanent Installation 2018 Verona Vision Care, Verona WI, Corporate Art Commission and Permanent Installation 2018 Lakeside Street Coffee House, Madison WI, Permanent Installation 2018 Dane County Credit Union, Madison WI, Corporate Art Commission and Permanent Installation 2018 "I Love You, I Steal Your Gas" Music Video by Mark Mallman and Dick Valentine, Live Painting Performance 2017 Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, Green Bay WI, Public Art Commission and Permanent Installation 2016 Validic, Durham, NC, Corporate Art Commission and Permanent Installation 2015 Blue Gem Tattooing, Green Bay WI, Permanent Installation EDUCATION University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, BA, Studio and 2-Dimensional Art Emphasis, 2008 |
LIVE PAINTING PERFORMANCES
2020 Fitch-Rona Art Crawl, Quivey's Grove, Fitchburg WI (March) 2019 Compression Book Release and Rock + Roll Show, High Noon Saloon, Madison WI (November) 2019 Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Fall Gallery Night, HotelRed, Madison WI (October) 2019 Live Painting, Malt House Tavern, Madison WI (July, August, October) 2019 Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Spring Gallery Night, Hawks Quindel SC, Madison WI (October) 2019 Fitch-Rona Art Crawl, Quivey's Grove, Fitchburg WI (March) 2019 14th Anniversary Special Event, Bliss Flow Yoga, Madison WI (January) 2018 Live From The Nest - The Daily Cardinal, UW Madison Campus, WI 2018 4th of July Special Event, Memorial Union Terrace, Madison WI 2018 Live Painting, Malt House, Madison WI 2018 Private Wedding, Milwaukee WI 2018 DCCU's 84th Annual Meeting, Dane County Credit Union, Madison WI 2018 Art Asana, Bliss Flow Yoga, Madison WI 2018 Fitch-Rona Art Crawl, Verona Vision Care, Verona WI 2018 Fitch-Rona Art Crawl, Hop Haus Brewing, Verona WI 2017 Live Painting, Malt House, Madison WI 2017 Private Wedding, Wausau WI 2017 Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Fall Gallery Night, Hawks Quindel SC, Madison WI 2017 Private Fundraiser, Chicago IL 2016 Dead and Buried, Fat City Emporium, Madison WI 2016 Homemade for the Holidays, Winedown, Madison WI 2016 Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Fall Gallery Night, Matrix Coworking, Madison WI 2016 This Is Our City hosted by Hive, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison WI 2016 Majestic Theater 8th Annual SummerJam, Session 5, Madison WI (September) 2016 Majestic Theater 8th Annual SummerJam, Session 4, Madison WI (August) 2016 Majestic Theater 8th Annual SummerJam, Session 3, Madison WI (August) 2016 Majestic Theater 8th Annual SummerJam, Session 2, Madison WI (July) 2016 Marquette-Atwood Art Walk, Lauer Realty Group, Madison WI (May) 2016 Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Spring Gallery Night, Lauer Realty Group, Madison WI (May) 2015 Private Fundraiser, Milwaukee WI (December) 2015 Women Empowering Women Fundraiser, WE Int’l and Hawks Quindel, Madison WI 2015 Private Wedding, Lake Windsor Golf Club, Windsor WI (September) 2015 Majestic Theater 7th Annual SummerJam, Session 4, Madison WI (September) 2015 Majestic Theater 7th Annual SummerJam, Session 3, Madison WI (August) 2015 Majestic Theater 7th Annual SummerJam, Session 1, Madison WI (July) PRESS & LINKS 2019 Catherine Capellaro, "Hanna Bruer's Grunge Art," Isthmus, November 7, Volume 44, Issue 45, p4 2018 NAMI Wisconsin's 12th Annual Healing Art Show, short biography, Madison WI, October, p 14. 2017 Lindsay Christians, "The Art of the Sale," Cap Times, October 18. 2015 NAMI Wisconsin’s 9th Annual Healing Art Show, short biography, Madison WI, December, p 13. 2015 Laura Jones, “The Art of Healing,” Isthmus, October 2, Volume 40, #39. p 32. 2015 Amy Carlson, Television Interview, NBC15 WMTV, Madison WI, September 9. 2013 Jason Ocker, “Text, Trinkets, and Tape: A RAWesome Good Time,” Project Famous Magazine. p 58-59. 2013 RAW: Natural Born Artists, Video Interview, Madison WI, October 17. |