Brandon Hansen

Artist Statement

My work orbits around a collection of celestial sculptures called the Annuli. Each Annulus is annular, which is to say that they are designed exclusively with rings, or concentric circles. In my portraits, I seek to magnify and clarify the luminous beauty of the sky above through its reflection on both sides of the board below.

The Annuli represent an alignment of 3 lineages: astronomical instruments (Antikythera Mechanism, the Voyager Records) that navigate space through time; philosophical toys (the thaumatrope, kaleidoscope) that teach vision through play; and sacred geometries (mandalas, tijitu) that serve as aids for contemplation. From these, the sculptures inherit precision, wonder, and depth.

Handcrafted from wood - a material which grows in rings over years - each Annulus receives crystal spheres I position into engraved divots to “cast” the configuration of a specific moment. The spheres are chosen for both scientific resemblance and metaphysical resonance to the planets they represent. Once set up, I rotate the disc so that every body points to its true position in the sky at a given hour. The sculpture is then disassembled, flipped, and reassembled to show an alternate, but equally valid point of view. The gold side presents a heliocentric schematic: the architecture of orbits seen from above. Flipping to the black side then gives a geocentric, phenomenological view: the night sky as perceived by human eyes, complete with constellations.

This Flip is a keystone of my work, a kinesthetic exercise in holding multiple perspectives simultaneously. Studying both sides of the coin develops a cognitive flexibility that reaches beyond the stars, into how we might comprehend any complex truth.