Artist Frank Hansen makes work that's messy, freaky, angry and silly — whatever he's feeling that day

‘The Epitaph of Democracy’ by Frank Hansen, courtesy of the artist

“Frank Hansen openings always flirt with lawlessness,” reads a description of the Des Moines artist’s work from 2009. “This year his show will feature a painting that needs to be driven like a car.”

At that point, Hansen was well on his way to carving out a niche in the Des Moines art scene. Twenty-five years ago, as an explosion of new artists began making their mark in Central Iowa, Hansen was among this new vanguard of creatives. They formed the 218-1/2 Paintpushers, a mutually supportive effort to regularly meet for networking, critiquing and development. Their original meeting hall was in Historic Valley Junction, 218-1/2 5th St (once an International Order of the Odd Fellows lodge, now a marketing/branding company).

Since his Grand View days, Hansen has been featured in Des Moines’ Moberg Gallery, among others, and has had numerous exhibitions in Zanzibar’s Coffee Adventure. He collaborated with his artist wife, Holly, for “The Frolly Show,” “over 200 cute, affordable, little drawings” for Zanzibar patrons to choose from: “pick out your favorite, or a group of freaks, and hang them together…”

‘Sarah and Leland With Bees’ by Frank Hansen, courtesy of the artist

One of his best-known works is a mural at 809 Pennsylvania Ave in Des Moines, Sarah and Leland With Bees, a multi-story mural depicting two children who’d be right at home in a Klasky-Csupo cartoon, among smiling bees wearing top hats. Sarah’s face is awash with pink and yellow and contorted — the aftermath of a sting, perhaps? Leland seems happier, though he is the one who looks like the teeth are falling right out of his head.

Captured in a wide range of media (plywood boards, film, apparel, canvas, city walls and more), Hansen depicts moments of silliness, defiance, sassiness and rage. It’s a style he calls Emotionalism. Little Village chatted with the artist to learn more.

Can you describe your early years? What were some formative influences in your career?

Jim Engler, design professor at Des Moines’ Grand View University, definitely influenced me. He didn’t play games. A lot of people were kind of scared of him, but if you played on his level, he would tell you if something was not going in the right direction. He forced you to find your own way. Jim Engler gave me the least input, but trusted my vision. I found freedom in that.

[At Grand View] I learned to draw from Dana Schaeffer. I learned about composition and techniques from Dennis Kaven. I earned a Bachelors of Arts degree in fine and commercial art.

I learned how to think outside the box, and break the rules from Stew Buck, my friend and high school teacher for 50 years. Before I took his art classes, I took gymnastics. That taught me how to do a cartwheel. Stew suggested I go to college for art, when I didn’t even know that was a thing.

[Traditional art teachers] tell you to find someone that you could follow, someone that you could emulate their art. I didn’t care for that idea, so that’s how Emotionalism was born.

‘Feral’ by Frank Hansen, courtesy of the artist

Talk more about the origins of Emotionalism.

It was first coined by Martin Andrew Button Gwinnet, a sculptor at Iowa State who wanted to learn how to paint. He’d never painted before and asked me to guide him. Once he got into it, he was just running with it. He came up with “Emotionalism” because not only does it evoke emotions in the viewer, but you paint what your emotions are. If I had a bad day at work, I’d come home and paint about it and then I could breathe again and I usually ended up with a good product because it was real.

So what does your work and process look like?

Messy. Child-like yet mature, exciting, bright colors, words, sometimes I assemble things on the surface with it. With Emotionalism, it changes so much depending on your emotion. When I do a commission piece, I like some input and then, let me go with that.