Hanna Jaeun is a Brooklyn-based painter. She received a BFA in Apparel Design at the Rhode Island School of Design. After some soul-searching, she finally decided to pursue her dreams of becoming a painter. She now works with acrylics on wood panel. Drawing inspirations from religious paintings, puppetry, and her love of animals, her work explores the plight of animals. She uses animals and animal-human hybrids to explore themes of isolation, vulnerability, and the yearning to belong. She has had the opportunity to exhibit across the US, at events and galleries including, Beyond Eden Art Fair, SCOPE Art Fair at Miami Basel, Cotton Candy Machine, Arch Enemy Arts, and various other galleries.
“I love fairy tales. I like the dreamlike state that those stories exist in. Even more so the really dark ones. Hansel and Gretel in particular. The earlier Disney movies as well, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White. I just loved the look of them and it’s always stuck with me. As I mentioned before, Jim Henson was a huge influence, especially The Dark Crystal. Your imagination just sort of goes into this world when you create something, almost like you’re in a television set looking out. It’s always in your head. It’s all you’re living and breathing while working on it. They might connect only in my head, an extension of one piece into another that relates. I’ve always brought in different elements from other works to a new piece, it’s inevitable I think. It gets to a point where I need to complete it, that the painting needs to be finished and away from me. I think everyone who creates something can relate to that.” – Hanna Jaeun (CVLT Nation)
