Hasani Sahlehe is a multidisciplinary artist. His practice consists of abstract paintings, installations, and performances that explore memory, migration, and the supernatural. Significant exhibitions of his work have taken place at SCAD Museum of Art, the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, and NADA Miami. His work has been published in Art Papers, New American Paintings (with Noteworthy Artist distinction), and Burnaway. He was awarded the SCAD Alumni Atelier, MINT Leap year residency, and the Hambidge Residency for the Arts and Sciences. Collectors of his work include Michael Rooks, curator, High Museum of Art, and SCAD. Sahlehe currently serves as the teaching artist at the Morris Museum of Art. He received his Painting BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2015. Sahlehe is originally from St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.
Selected Works 2019-2020
This work employs abstracted compositions of natural and cultural phenomena to synthesize themes of memory, migration, and the supernatural.
The work aligns with the autonomous pursuits of the Abstract Expressionists. It calls on the visual language of urban art by incorporating the use of icon, text, a spirited color palette, found materials, collage, and energetic paint application.
The work contemplates the malleability of perception and regional customs by distorting familiar imagery while invoking the historical practice of elevating man-made objects to a hallowed status. In so doing, it seeks new meanings for established ideals.
This practice observes the forms of painting, installation, and performance, with each medium providing nuanced articulation of related themes.
To view more of Hasani Sahlehe’s work please visit their website.