Events: Studio Sessions: Expressive Figuration in Painting

Event Description

During this workshop, we will draw inspiration from personal narratives—memories, stories, and dreams—to produce expressive abstract paintings with an emphasis on the figure. Looking to Bob Thompson’s highly personal and symbolic visual vocabulary as inspiration, we’ll develop our own iconography while examining the elements of art such as color, form, and composition.

Studio Sessions are designed for adults, but all ages are welcome. Materials will be provided. No prior experience is necessary.

For more information, please email lifelonglearning@high.org or call 404-733-5034.

About Your Instructor

Hasani Sahlehe was born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. The Atlanta-based artist employs color and material to affect the viewer spiritually, cognitively, and emotionally. Sahlehe’s practice comprises a syncretic visual language that references music, lived experience, spirituality, and the history of painting. His luminous palette and lyrical compositions often depict abstracted renderings of environmental phenomena that sometimes distill into vibrant fields of color. Sahlehe considers parallels between expressions of humanity and the physical and conceptual malleability of paint by incorporating a variety of painting approaches ranging from airbrush to pours of thick, resin-like acrylic gel medium. Sahlehe likens paint’s ability to exist in various states of matter to the tactility and intangibility of being human. Solo presentations of Sahlehe’s work have been held at Atlanta Contemporary, SCAD Museum of Art, MINT, 106 Green (New York), Resort (Baltimore), and Westobou (Augusta, GA). Recent press appearances include ArtMaze Magazine, BmoreArt, Burnaway, Savannah Magazine, Art Papers, and New American Paintings.