San Francisco based illustrator Hannah Stouffer finds a great deal of comfort in imagery- its an admiration that is often times overwhelming. She has an infatuation with icons that reflect and embrace specific eras and genres. Luxury, royalty, muscle cars, heavy metal, the animal kingdom, femininity, horse races and foliage are all somehow connected in her work by embellishments, pattern and decoration

"Decadent Choice, Cadillac Flats, Half Famous, Veils de Fleur, Kiss Goodbye, Society Hostess, Last Thoughts, Liberty Cash, Famous Royalty, Forevermore, Glass of Red, Smoke Diamond, Elite Status, Desert Wheat, Venomous, Dawn After Dawn, Tiger Bait, Brandy Honey," lists Hannah Stouffer.

We are sitting around drinking whiskey sours and discussing the art of racehorse nomenclature. It becomes clear that iconographic descriptions are very important to Hannah; not only is she drawn to them, but also they seem to serve as an inspiration in and of themselves. She notes her attractions to the words like: "romanticism, vicious, decorative, elegant, predator, hustler, pantera, ornamental" not so much to describe her work, but to describe what she's working towards.

Much like her art, Hannah is a walking dichotomy. Calm, composed, and a well put-together exterior versus a raw, passionate, and spontaneous interior are the attributes her dueling psyche is made of. Raised in the wild kingdoms of Colorado, followed by a post-childhood migration towards the cosmopolitan terrains of California, Hannah knows what it's like to deftly navigate opposing worlds. Thus it is no wonder that the landscapes she creates in her art reflect the very nature of who she is and what she has lived through. The images presented in this collection are riddled with opposing forces: classic vs. contemporary, femininity vs. violence, the new vs. the nostalgic. Tokens of modernity are woven into luscious tangles of organic forms; iconic emblems are rendered in intricate and repeating patterns; ferocious animals pace across delicate Nouveau-inspired wallpaper. All of these battling dualities betray the nature of an artist who transverses many climates, be they locations in the world, in history, or her own visual memories.

Born to a creatively nurturing mother and father, Marty Stouffer, an entrepreneurial wildlife documentarian, Hannah was encouraged to pursue her artistic inclinations via independent means. Though she grew up in a small town in Colorado, her parents armed her with the knowledge that life is a presentation of endless possibilities if one is willing to work hard enough. In step with her father's philosophy, Hannah sites "creative independence" as her most valued virtue.

Perhaps the creative independence so deeply instilled in Hannah since youth informs the penchant she has for hybridizing contrasting elements in her art with such careless abandon. Monster Truck rallies and vintage pin-up girls alongside Baroque art and Americana, all serve as adequate subject matter and styles with which to wield her interior visions and satiate her desire to create her classic contemporary trademark style. Like her art, her life is spent in a grand array of spaces: whether it be a day at dollar-day horse races or reading on a beautiful piece of antique furniture, she is always materializing the world as it appears to her and her lovely feminine gaze.

Danielle Grant and Hannah Stouffer 2007

Selected Clients:

Print/ Illustration
MSN
Dell
Sony
Disney
American Express
Paper Denim Cloth
Camel
GNU
Line Skis
Foundation Skateboards
IBM
Coca-Cola
AG Jeans
The Museum of
Folk Art
Sansa
The North Face
Rocket Dog
Secret

Kraft
Goorin
Reneuzit
Mingonne
Drift
Ortho Evra
Start Mobile
City of San Francisco
Birdstand
Wild Empire
Ordinary Kids
Wild America
Billy Childs
Poketo
Electric Heart
Levi's
Nordstroms
Aspen Highlands Resort
Madrone Lounge

Clothing:
Goorin
Paper Denim Cloth
Tank Theory
Upper Playground
Blood is the New Black
BJohnson
Drift
Pony Attack
Shalom Clothing
Rocket Dog
Bono
Poketo
How Wild is Jane
The Dying Californian
Device Clothing
Brodeo
Brighton Park Press

Music:
Metallica
Au Revoire Simonne
Day One Symphony
The Bay Bridged
The Dying Californian
Mama's Cookin'
Avery Island
Dublab
Billy Childs
City Sessions
Matt Bauer Music
Bobby Yang
Red Buttons Records

Editorial:
SOMA Magazine
Bitch Magazine
Warrior Magazine
SF Chronicle
HHMI
Flavorpill
Planet Magazine
Subtle Magazine
Filthy Scum
Refused Magazine

SOLO

2008
18K Jungle DDR Projects, Long Beach, CA

2007
For the Love, Plastic Chapel, Denver, CO

2006
Flourish, Roses, Dust to Dust, Cowboys Angles, San Francisco,CA
This is High Society, EDO, San Francisco, CA

2005
Feathers & Delicates, Lavish, San Francisco, CA
Showroom, Limn Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Slow Gold (2 person), Rite Spot, San Francisco, CA
Lets Migrate South (2 person), National Product Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2004
Hannah Stouffer, Artery Gallery, San Francisco CA

GROUP

2007
Process Nucleus Gallery, Alhambra, CA
Best Friends Space Gallery, San Francisco, CAYou're a Serpent..., Domy Gallery, Houston, TX
Sugar Sugar, Grey Area Gallery, San Francisco, CA
I Think We Should Split Up, Reciever Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2005
StartSoma, Hotel des Art,San Francisco, CA
All Girls Show, Ghetto Gloss, Los Angeles, CA
Vitale, Plush Gallery, St.Petersburgh, FL
Rock, Paper, Scissors, Canvas Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Ladies Night, Vitale Gallery, St. Petersburgh, FL
Art Span Auction, California Modern, San Francisco, CA
Beaks and Bucks, Primary Space, Hamtramck, MI

Common Wealth, Vener Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Brown Baggers, Studio Z Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Golden State, Primary Space Gallery, Hamtramck, M
Almost Larger than Life, Gallery 1988, Los Angeles, CA
Sleepless, 1751 Social Club, San Francisco, CA

2003
The Board Show, Off the Preserve, Napa Valley, CA
The Great Outdoors, National Product, San Francisco, CA
Shot on Film, 66 Balmy Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Beaux Arts Ball, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX
Valley Kids, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen CO