Brendan Hansbro’s central printmaking practice is copperplate intaglio engraving. Through this, he creates imagery of the world around him, the architecture of the city: its people and places, using multiple viewpoints: inverting perspectives, channelling Byzantium and cubism in playful images of London. The architecture becomes animated, the inanimate becomes animated. His work shows the city as a living being. The resulting prints, although often appearing fantastic, are always based on observation of the world around him.
His use of the engraver’s burin creates imagery that takes its heritage from the engraved rock art of the Palaeolithic age and the metal-work of the Celtic, Egyptian, Greek and Roman worlds and the decorative metalwork of suits of armour. The engraver does not draw the brush across the canvas or the needle across the etching plate, instead uses both hands to drive the burin and plate around in a wheel motion-creating imagery in multiple directions. This way of working interests him as it naturally creates a different visual dynamic to that of creating upon a static matrix.
Brendan also makes wood engravings, in which the animal illustrations of Thomas Bewick and the aesthetics of typeface and the printed page are big influences. His printmaking practice is accompanied by the making of watercolour paintings, drawings, artists' books, collages and ceramics.
Brendan Studied at The Slade School of Fine Art, then spent a number of years teaching printmaking at the Kent Institute and Winchester School of Art. For around 20 years he exhibited with London’s Curwen Gallery, including many solo exhibitions.
Awards include the Villiers David Travel Prize, 2000 and a Scholarship In Printmaking, British School At Rome 1992-1993.
