Mayon Hanania

This project started as a documentation of the men and women around me, people that triggered something in me artistically.. I had each of my models sit for me in the Calfornia Drifters Collective Gallery where I had a show in Long Beach in June 2018.

I worked on each sitter’s charcoal sketch for an hour while talking capturing this unique moment in my sketch, with all the excitement, insecurities at times, playfulness, pride and the common goal to give each other the best we could. I finished the oil portraits in my studio based on the sketches I made in the Gallery.

The process of creating this series was for me a way to create a community, create a bond that wasn’t there an hour before even if I already knew the model. It became all of a sudden “real” and “permanent” through this shared moment, and something special for both the sitter and the painter.

I can be a very solitary person at times and can go for days alone, working, reading, and drawing. For me, meeting people “through” art and actively creating something that wasn’t there an hour ago between the model and I and that hopefully will last and make an impression on the both of us is precious.

Mayon Hanania is a French artist who lives in San Pedro, CA. Born in Paris, she studied Arts & Design at Ecole Estienne and Ecole Duperré. She has exhibited in France, and California, including Infinity Room Gallery LA, Misfits Gallery in La Jolla, BG Gallery at Bergamotte Station, and El Cuervo Gallery in El Segundo. She is an annual member of the iconic Post-It Show at Giant Robot Gallery in Sawtelle Japantown LA, where she’s shown alongside Matt Groening, Gary Baseman and James Jean. She’s had many shows in collaboration with artist and partner David Ivar “Yaya” Herman Dune, and their illustrated horror tale “Where The Hell Did They Come From?” was published in 2015 by prestigious Gallimard Editions in France. She loves the Port Of Los Angeles where she lives on the very same street that was Charles Bukowski’s last abode, close to the ocean and the 110 Freeway. She likes to work in her studio, sometimes with her black cat Inspecteur Morrison on her lap, listening to Tom Waits, Caitlin rose, Herman Dune and Tom Brosseau.

Mayon is also a Vegan entrepreneur and designer, and her brand Good Guys Don’t Wear Leather has received many Fashion and Ethical awards (Fashion Net, Peta) and has been seen at the feet of beautiful Emma Watson and Miley Cyrus.