H. Craig Hanna was born in Cleveland, Ohio.  He studied Fine Art in New York achieving a Bachelor degree in Fine Arts from Syracuse University in 1990 and a Masters Degree in Fine Art from the School of Visual Arts in 1997. His professional training was completed by a year spent at the New York Academy of Figurative Art. His work is in the collections of actress Drew Barrymore, Marc Jacobs, cult film-maker Paul Morrisey, the Groucho Club and numerous private collections in both the USA and the United Kingdom. H.  Craig Hanna lives and works in London.   H. Craig Hanna’s paintings are hauntingly beautiful.  The majority of his work is comprised of diptychs  which he paints on to canvas, timber or copper.  One panel of the diptych is abstract, either gestural or with unassociated images placed randomly on the plane.  The other panel is a figure or face that is executed with an Egon Schiele-esque boldness of line and startling explicitness. He paints recognisable human beings as opposed to standard images of physically perfect or stereotypically imperfect  'types'. They are not, however, portraits, and most have their identities effaced, faces obstructed, but their presence is the strongest and most captivating element in the painting. Hanna plays off apparently unrelated elements against this depiction of the human figure. By splitting the picture surface into two in an almost cinematic way (one thinks of 'split screen'), he combines figuration and abstraction, representation and association. These paintings work the tension between different orders of sign, using juxtaposition to create formal harmonies and visual metaphors.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2002	Westbourne Studios, London, United Kingdom Lymann Sann Gallery, New York, USA
2001	Oxo Gallery, London, United Kingdom Galerie Martini, Central, Hong Kong
2000	Galerie Martini, Central, Hong Kong
1999	Groucho Club, Soho, London, United Kingdom Blains Fine Art, London, United Kingdom
1998	Belgarde Gallery, New York, USA Gallery at Bergdorf Goodman, New York, USA
1997	Space Gallery, New York, USA
Awards
2001	BP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London, UK