Fine Art as a Business Venture
By: Laurel Tuohy
09/21/2006

Curtis Hanson's landscape paintings are well known throughout the region and beyond. His often large-scale work is notable for its feeling for the landscape and the artist's amazing ability to blend the subtlest nuances of color, and his series of New England vistas has created a large following and demand for his works.

The paintings start in the low four figures for a small piece and rise high into the five figures for a large, complex work, which makes them out of reach for many. Now, admirers who can't afford such a luxury can own a print by Mr. Hanson for just a few hundred dollars-and they can buy it online.

Mr. Hanson's latest Web site, www.cornubiagallery.com, is named after his gorgeous converted church home and gallery, Cornubia Hall, in Cornwall, and the first edition of six prints is available there. This site joins his longstanding online vehicle to showcase his work, www.curthansonpainting.com.

The six prints in the first edition are each part of a series of 500, which are hand-signed and numbered by the artist. When those sell out, Mr. Hanson will choose other paintings to transform into fine art prints.

In the process of taking these prints to market, he rejected many different print prototypes on the basis of color, finish or clarity. "It's important to actually be there when they are setting up the presses," he said of the production of the archival paper prints that finally passed muster.

The fine quality prints are produced from high end, high-resolution digital photos that are incredibly close in color, tone and feel to the original paintings. They are printed by a process using offset lithographs and a stochastic process, which lets the color depth and image intensity show through on a matte finish.

Mr. Hanson doesn't plan to stock too many of the prints in his gallery, if he stocks them at all. "My focus is really on the painting," he said of wanting to keep the two separate. "This is a new business that will try to make the work more affordable while still being accurate. Over the years, people have often said to me, 'Gee, I wish I could afford one of your paintings.' Well, I know these aren't actual paintings, but, as an artist, I like them, and in approving them to represent my paintings, I think they are very good," he said.

He chose the six images in the first edition by picking one from each season in Connecticut's Northwest Corner and, beyond that, choosing subjects that people would be familiar with, such as Coltsfoot Valley, which Mr. Hanson calls "the most dramatic view of Cornwall and the most memorable to people to visit here." The prints are from paintings spanning the last six years and ones that the artist hopes will appeal to admirers of his work, most of whom live in New England.

"Making the prints was something I avoided for a long time. I'd thought about it, but the technology wasn't as good as it is now. I just shied away from it. I didn't want it to take away from my painting," he said, voicing the fear of many successful artists.

"I'm trying to do it in a small way. I know I could make a lot of them and get carried away with it, but I just want to concentrate on my paintings. If this can take the need off of selling them a little bit, that's good.

"I don't want to delude people about the prints," he continued. "They are the result of the technology that's available now, but they aren't my paintings. If you like the image and feeling of my paintings, this is a way to have that without mortgaging your house," he said with a laugh, admitting that he couldn't afford to buy many of his own paintings, though he could afford a print.

"What's art for if not to enjoy?" he asked. "I think this has been done sensibly and sensitively."

After this series sells out, Mr. Hanson is toying with the idea of producing a series of prints based on his Asian paintings "because I love them so much," he said.

Southeast Asia is a passion of Mr. Hanson's. He has visited Thailand and Cambodia several times to revel in and paint the rural landscapes, and he is even considering setting up a residence in one of those countries.

On his next trip he plans to visit Vietnam and eventually make his way to the Chinese border, or into China itself. His series of paintings from the East, the latest of which spawned his last show, "Thai Sojourn," displays his apparent and contagious fascination with the landscape of the countryside and a preoccupation with the rivers and long, canoe-like fishing boats of Asia, including many scenes painted from the banks of the famed Mekong River.

His interest in those Asian countries extends into the decorations at Cornubia and into Mr. Hanson's wardrobe as well. On the day of this interview he wore an olive colored, frog-closure Asian tunic that could be from a closet in Shanghai, not Cornwall.

In his Asian travels, Mr. Hanson stayed away from the cities, veering more toward the rural and agricultural landscapes that mirror his adopted hometown of Cornwall. He has become particularly interested in painting aspects of the rice farming life.

He noted how the small community farms are slowly disappearing here, but are still a way of life for a large part of the population in many of the places he has visited. It was the rural way of life, in part, that attracted him to this area.

Despite the decline of farming, Mr. Hanson still loves the Northwest Corner. He came to the East Coast to study painting and, on a drive up Route 7, was stuck by the look of West Cornwall's covered bridge. "It felt, and still feels, like home to me. It's a little enclave and it has a strong tradition of creative people," he said.

The next show of Mr. Hanson's original work opens on Oct. 11 at Cornubia Gallery on Route 43. The show will focus on the artist's latest series of paintings celebrating the landscapes of Cornwall Hollow and featuring big skies and expansive stretches of land, some of which were done on his own property.

The show, a benefit for The Connecticut Food Bank, will be called "Food For the Soul." Mr. Hanson will donate the proceeds from one of his pieces to the charity that feeds the needy. Call 860-672-0576 for more information. The release of prints by Mr. Hanson is being done "in concert" with Connecticut Magazine. For more information, see Mr. Hanson's Web site, www.cornubiagallery.com, or the Web site www.Connecticutmag.com.

©Litchfield County Times 2006

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