10 Questions with Hanna Salian

Hanna Salian is a versatile artist residing near Dallas, Texas. Her passion for art blossomed early in life, beginning with exploratory dabbles in oil painting and animal sketches. These early creative endeavors laid the foundation for her artistic development, which she has nurtured and refined through years of dedicated self-study and practice.

Salian's artistic vision is profoundly influenced by the emotive power of Impressionism, the dramatic flair of Romanticism, and the masterful techniques of renowned artists such as John Singer Sargent. These diverse influences converge in her work, creating a unique artistic voice that resonates with both classical and contemporary sensibilities.

In her ongoing pursuit of artistic growth, Salian is currently expanding her portfolio. She is actively engaged in creating a diverse range of artworks, from portraits to scenes from daily life to hand paintings.

www.hannasalian.com

ARTIST STATEMENT

In her work as an oil painter, Hanna Salian strives to capture the world as it is. Her artistry lies not in embellishment or idealization but in the honest portrayal of subjects in their natural state. By faithfully rendering the world as it appears, she challenges viewers to find meaning and emotion in the unadorned truth of reality. Her work celebrates the inherent beauty of ordinary moments, objects, and people, elevating them through careful attention to detail and masterful technique. Through meticulous observation and skillful application of paint, Hanna aims to recreate the subtle interplay of light, color, and texture that defines our visual experience.

Bitten Apple, Oil, 12x12 in, 2024 © Hanna Salian

INTERVIEW

Can you tell us about your journey as an artist and how your passion for art began?

I grew up with art. I was homeschooled, and my mom, an amateur artist for fun and love, taught me and my siblings. We learned three-point perspective and color theory, along with math and English. I remember being eight or nine and sketching with kids who never learned to draw. That was surreal. I had thought everyone knew the basics of art until then. The more I got out into the world, the more I realized that the basics of art I had taken for granted were not universal. I've always been grateful to my mom for teaching me to draw and encouraging my artistic growth. She gave me a head start on a passion I've loved to learn and have come back to again and again throughout my life.

How did your early experiences with oil painting and animal sketches influence your artistic development?

I grew up on a farm and learned to draw anatomically accurate horses, chickens, and dogs before sketching people. I grew up pretty low-tech. We had one computer, and we kids didn't really use the internet much until late high school, so if I wanted to learn to draw, it was from library books or the animals moving around in the backyard. I don't draw animals much now, but the observational skills I learned early on, sketching from life, have always been useful. I had a love-hate relationship with oil paint when I first started using it as a kid. The drying time frustrated me to no end, but that was also what made it fun to experiment with. I did not have any real talent with oil painting then, and luckily, none of my poor attempts with it have survived, but something about that medium always called me back to it. It wasn't until just a couple of years ago, actually, that I finally started getting used to oil paint and have finally been able to get it to cooperate.

Kids Playing in the Street, Oil, 16x20 in, 2024 © Hanna Salian

How has residing near Dallas influenced your artistic practice or the themes you choose to explore?

I haven't lived in the area long enough to incorporate much yet, but I am looking forward to adding more architectural elements to pieces. It may sound like an odd thing to take away from being near Dallas, but it's been a while since I've lived near a large city, and I'd forgotten how much I love all the architecture, alleyways, and interesting bits of history that hide the corners of in cities. I'm looking forward to a couple of paintings I have (tentatively) planned that will add some architectural beauty to them.
A second, more amusing change living near Dallas is that I don't have to explain that I don't paint landscapes. Where I was in Montana before I moved to Texas is picturesque with mountains, forests, and rivers. So whenever I said I was an artist, most people just assumed I painted landscapes or was in that area to start painting landscapes. I found it funny, but still, every conversation on the subject of art had to begin with correcting that assumption or explaining that I don't enjoy painting landscapes, even if the area is gorgeous. Texas is nice, but it's nowhere near as beautiful as Montana, so I don't have to explain this every time now.

Your work is inspired by Impressionism, Romanticism, and artists like John Singer Sargent. How do these influences shape your style?

I love the softness in these styles and the use of light. The looseness of Impressionism and Romanticism both have a way of making the contents of the art accurate and recognizable while being so soft and ethereal. Degas's dancers and his ballerina paintings are an inspiration to me, as they build form and softness without losing shape and realism. It feels like seeing life through a dream rather than with the harsher edges of reality. Sargent, too, has such an air of softness that translates to the skin he painted in particular. I always look back at his art as a reference, and though my style is quite different, I try to add some of his color uses for skin into my work. My style is less soft and gentle than those, but I'm always inspired to add some of that into my art when I revisit my favorite Degas, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, or any of Sargent's portraits of young men and women.

What draws you to portray subjects in their natural state, and what do you hope viewers take away from this honest approach?

In modern life, or mine at least, there's a huge push towards living in as much abstraction as possible. Most knowledge work, where I spend my unartistic time, is all technological abstractions, data sheets, social media, and digital fluff as far away from reality as possible. Abstractions are useful and valuable, but too much leads me to undervalue the world I can see around me. There's fun in nonsense of course, but there is beauty in the 'boring' and especially in the people around us every day. I'm an avid people watcher, so I love seeing the way people look and act every day and bringing that into my art where possible.

What challenges do you encounter when depicting ordinary moments, and how do you elevate them into art?

Well, there is the same challenge with most artists of 'Is this actually good/unique/interesting enough?' I struggle with the internal doubts that I assume are specific to realistic painters of 'Is what I'm working on good enough to be 'art' compared to both modern art and traditional masters.' Or is it repetitive and boring without adding any value? The mental strain of believing in your own art when it hasn't been validated much by others is fairly universal for any type of artist and I'm certainly no exception to that.
Telling stories of the ordinary is another fine line I try to balance. On the one hand, most subjects or ideas already suggest some story, but on the other, I am always fighting my inclination to add more and more. Each painting involves finding a balance for the subject or idea. Some pieces work better with simplicity, and adding too much is just a distraction from the simple story. For others, I can add more details and little elements of a larger story without taking away from the subject. This isn't something I have much methodology for; it's just a matter of how the painting feels at any given time.

Lady Luck, Oil, 20x20 in, 2024 © Hanna Salian

Russell Crowe - Gladiator, Oil, 12x16 in, 2024 © Hanna Salian

You're currently expanding your portfolio. Can you share more about the types of projects or subjects you're exploring?

I'm still perfecting my portraits, and they are something I love doing, so I'll be continuing with those. I am always trying to improve the way I paint my skin. The skin on the face and hands is particularly interesting to paint, and there are somany beautiful ways of using color to portray the simple shapes; I love just staring at other artists' renditions of them. In tangent with improving my painting of skin, I'm working on rendering more compelling backgrounds and the elements of a painting besides the subject. I love the full-body portraits or scenes in dark rooms, where the person just pops, but if you look, the details in the shadows are intricate and add to the piece rather than just hiding in the dark. This isn't something I've tried to work with one way or another, but it's a style I admire and an area I want to improve on. In the same vein, just painting scenes where characters exist within the background, not just in front of a still color block, is something I will be working on for the next couple of pieces I have planned.

Do you have a favourite piece you've created? If so, what makes it special to you?

Lady Luck. This piece is one that came together almost exactly the way I had envisioned it. Many of my artworks change as I am creating them, from what I imagine to what takes shape on the canvas. Sometimes, they turn out better, and sometimes, sad times, they turn out worse. But it is rare they actually match what I imagine. Lady Luck was one such painting. I love how vibrant it is, and I've been keeping it on display in my house as long as I have it.

Persephone & Hades, Oil, 12x12 in, 2024 © Hanna Salian

What are your aspirations as an artist, and what directions do you see your work taking in the future?

Being able to work as a full-time artist would be a dream, but for now, I'm aspiring to make a meaningful side hustle out of my art and most importantly to grow my skills. I'm working toward creating more complex paintings with stories built in. I write fiction books for fun, but I'd like to weave more observable threads of stories and characterization into pieces. The paintings you can stare at and find more and more details hidden in a few brush strokes are the goal. I love those paintings, but I have a long way from where I am now. I'm looking forward to the journey though.

And lastly, as 2024 comes to a close, what accomplishments from this year are you most proud of, and what goals are you still working towards?

2024 is the year I decided to pour more energy into my art and work on getting it out and noticed more. I'm proud of finally allotting the time and focus I've been meaning to have for painting to it, and to now have a portfolio that I can be proud of. This is still an ongoing goal, though, there's always more to do, and I have so many more paintings I'm excited to start working on. Right now, I'm collecting 100 'no's related to my art. Every time I submit to enter an exhibition, gallery, commission work, or any other art event and am turned down, I add that to my list. Collecting 'yes's feels more daunting, but when rejection is the goal, having anyone say yes to my art is a fantastic surprise!

Artist’s Talk

Al-Tiba9 Interviews is a promotional platform for artists to articulate their vision and engage them with our diverse readership through a published art dialogue. The artists are interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj, the founder & curator of Al-Tiba9, to highlight their artistic careers and introduce them to the international contemporary art scene across our vast network of museums, galleries, art professionals, art dealers, collectors, and art lovers across the globe.

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