Hanna Wildman

Artist Statement

When I stand at my easel, I’m giving my soul a space to speak. In a world that often feels chaotic and corrupted, my art instinctively seeks to channel hope. I express this intuitively through gestures and words, letting them build without boundaries or inhibitions. For me, abstract painting brings inner peace. It’s a place where I find beauty in the untamed,joy in the freedom of movement, and a deep connection with my most raw, rebellious and messy spirit.
My work is inspired by human creativity including design, music, fashion, graffiti and lyrics. I love patina and fading glamour, torn poster walls or crumbling plaster where seemingly unrelated elements combine to create something new. My career as a media makeup artist has given me an appreciation of layering to create polished perfection, and now I’m fascinated by how deconstructing layers can access a new untamed and unruly beauty.
I have a mixed-media practice, based in acrylics, and use a collage-style process to add oil pastels, spray paints, coloured pencils and paper to create bold gestural marks, scribble, scratches, symbolic totems, texture and text. Using tools, I’ll add and subtract layers, building and excavating to allow each action to react to the previous one, and the artwork to reveal itself spontaneously. I lean into experimentation and the thrill of failure.
It's this sense of embracing the unknown and the imperfect that excites me. I give myself over to my senses and emotions when creating, and through a stream of consciousness I find I can articulate the intangible and internalised. My desire is that viewers will look deeper into my artwork, and find a connection with their own raw, rebellious and messy spirit.