Christian L. Frock’s: “The Work of Jason Hanasik and Berndnaut Smilde in 'Conversation' at San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery” for KQED.

“Hanasik's new work for the exhibition poignantly addresses the foreclosure of the artist's childhood family home, furthering the theme of impermanence with unexpected emotional depth. His installation in the rear gallery features a recreated skeleton of the family den in his custom-built childhood home in Virginia. Raw wood beams create contemplative space to consider a series of home videos in the installation.

On one side, a video projection features footage of a wooded lot, evidently before construction. On the floor, a monitor presents a video from after the building was completed, as his father tours the house with camcorder in hand. A third video was captured after the bank seizure and features a final tour of its decades-old lived-in spaces, including trace evidence of family photos removed from the walls.

Few will assess the work with critical distance; most everyone knows someone who lost their home in the recent financial crisis. Many of us know many who have. This does not lessen the experience of Hanasik's work -- indeed it seems the emotional impact is heightened by our collective experience of the recent financial hailstorm that left few unscathed.”