Intensity

Heather Hansen is a New Orleans-based artist who creates incredible geometries using her body on pieces of paper. Part performance art, the symmetrical forms made with her movements allude to the Virtruvian Man in many iterations.

The performance of creating a piece such as this is not completely new – in the 2008 Olympic opening ceremony in China, dancers-cum-artists danced upon a sheet, creating an amazing Chinese-style calligraphy painting whilst maintaining the grace of a dance.

Hansen's work is different in its intensity. The sheer focus given to her work and the piece is reflected in the centrally weighted lines she sits in. Her pose at the end of the piece reminds me of meditation and the spell circles of fantasy novels. 

She doesn't mind getting her hands (or her body) dirty. It's a show of the grit involved in art making, countering the usual sterility of the white, curated gallery.