Lana Hensel

Lana Hensel shares her passion for the traditions of the 18th & 19th centuries through painting and drawing. Commissioned work available upon request. Lana Hensel’s fascination with the art and aristocracy of the 18th and 19th centuries has imbued her recent work with a decadence that invites onlookers to put on their finest robes, gorge on flaked pastry topped with whipping cream and clap merrily, as a royal poodle jumps upon a silk-draped lap. Marquis, Pages, Dukes, Duchesses, Queens and Kings float out of Hensel’s carefully curated research library and onto the canvas before her. Thick, unctuous pigment is layered in broad, audacious strokes, invoking the style of the impressionists, while classical airs lilt in the background. The Aristocrats series is the culmination of 17 years of painting, which began when Hensel came to Montreal from her birth-town of Vernon, British Columbia. Painting has since been a means for the artist to slip away from the present, in order to tap into a historic era and mood she loves.