Gaylen C. Hansen

Who is Gaylen C. Hansen?

Gaylen C. Hansen is an American artist best known for neo-expressionist figurative paintings that feature the flora and fauna of the Palouse, a geographically unusual area in Eastern Washington state where he lives and works, and “the Kernal,” Hansen’s alter-ego frontiersman whose often-perilous adventures are depicted in many of the artist’s canvases.

Hansen’s paintings have been exhibited in museums and galleries in Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, Berlin, Beijing, and Singapore, and are held in numerous public and private collections.

Hansen has received several prestigious awards, including the Flintridge Foundation Awards for Visual Artists in 2001.

Between 2007 and 2010, Hansen was the subject of a traveling retrospective exhibition, titled "Gaylen Hansen: Three Decades of Paintings."

Hansen served on the faculty at Washington State University in Pullman, WA from 1957 to 1982.