Dan

Ceri Hann

Ceri Hann is an artist who creates all sorts of items, and although this might seem like a vague introduction, Ceri's work is such that it is hard to get a better definition than "mad stuff in the street". Rather than take a classical path as so many before him, Ceri has taken his art to a social level, where the event itself is just as much the artwork as any physical matter that comes out at the end of his process.

Ceri's Camberwell market project is a perfect example of how Ceri includes his audience in his work. Since the materials that Ceri uses to make his jewellery are all sourced in the market itself, there is community based feel to the work. In terms of peoples' following, Ceri remarked that he had a great number of people that would return to his workshop, after many visits, which builds a great progressive relationship between artist and audience.

Ceri believes that "art has become the default area for activism" as more and more conventional types of activism are outlawed. Ceri himself is a sort of activist, without holding a banner and marching down the street. Ceri rebels against the confinement of art, such as the Sydney chalk festival. In this festival all 'chalking areas' are designated, which goes against the grain of art itself.
Ceri Hann to me is at the forefront of art, he represents the most open minded artist but not in a degenerative way, instead of taking art down a terminal road by painting a canvas white and naming it 'snow' or rubbing faeces all over a board and naming it 'shit', Ceri's art is opening doors. He is not dismantling arts validity or destroying its credibility, this is the constructive version of 'canned shit', it is the art that is completely possessed by the dilemmas that face society. As long as art has been art it has been used to communicate, the Church used art to push ideas of faith and Christianity, Van Gogh painted self-portraits to express his intense emotions, and Ceri is creating social interactions that "keep the spirit of art alive".
Ceri has a disdain for money , Ceri's comment "money is debt" firmly places Ceri in a position of power, independent of a need for 'monetary security'. The truth is that everybody in this society needs money in one way or another, to pay for food, to pay for rent, but Ceri sees no need for anything more than this.

Ceri is completely against the idea of convention and the status quo. Ceri brought up the issues of control, and how largely control is gained by conventionalism. Commercialism and consumerism are accepted, it is conventional in our western society to "want" things, items, material wealth, Ceri is free of this convention, he has found a much richer wealth in his artwork, in a completely inclusive manner, it seems that he wants to share his wealth with the wider community, which brings me to another point, and yet another convention. Ceri stated that he in fact had a lot of trouble giving items away, such as his Camberwell market jewellery, to the point where it became easier to simply ask for a gold coin donation because people are so used to the concept of "nothing for free" that they were too confused to accept items for nothing.
Ceri's work encapsulates improvisation and free form art. He may come across as a conspiracy theorist of some sort, and that’s most likely because he is. Ceri also talked of public art and how quickly it becomes nothing more then background noise, and how this becomes pointless, that a much more valid form is public art that is ever evolving, that changes with the world, rather then some eternal statue that becomes nothing more than a comfy seat or something to piss behind.
Ceri Hann is an idiosyncratic man that looks at the broader picture in life, with his two feet most certainly on the ground.