As a reflection of his creative drive, the art-making language Tanner has developed to give his aesthetic vibe tangible form is one that also waves a glitter-covered flag for the life force. It’s inescapable in his [. . .] wallpaper drawings, in which big eyes and big, ruddy lips emerge out of printed-pattern backgrounds like the free-floating faces of vixens in a fog
— Edward M. Gómez
Faces in the Crowd #1
2016
Glitter, beads, sand and mixed media on antique wallpaper
42 x 20 in.
Faces in the Crowd #2
2016
Glitter, beads, sand and mixed media on antique wallpaper
19 1/4 x 49 in.
Faces in the Crowd #3
2016
Glitter, beads, sand and mixed media on antique wallpaper
23 3/4 x 24 1/2 in.
Faces in the Crowd #4
2016
Glitter, beads, sand and mixed media on antique wallpaper
28 x 28 in.
Faces in the Crowd #5
2016
Glitter, beads, sand and mixed media on antique wallpaper
28 x 16 in.
Faces in the Crowd #6
2016
Glitter, beads, sand and mixed media on antique wallpaper
24 1/2 x 34 1/4 in.
Faces in the Crowd #7
2016
Glitter, beads, sand and mixed media on antique wallpaper
24 1/2 x 35 in.
Faces in the Crowd #8
2016
Glitter, beads, sand and mixed media on antique wallpaper
34 x 22 in.
Faces in the Crowd #9
2016
Glitter, beads, sand and mixed media on antique wallpaper
25 1/8 x 27 in.
Faces in the Crowd #10
2016
Glitter, beads, sand and mixed media on antique wallpaper
32 3/4 x 24 3/4 in.
Faces in the Crowd #11
2016
Glitter, beads, sand and mixed media on antique wallpaper
32 3/4 x 24 3/4 in.
Faces in the Crowd #12
2016
Glitter, beads, sand and mixed media on antique wallpaper
12 1/2 x 17 1.2 in.
Faces in the Crowd #13
2016
Glitter, beads, sand and mixed media on antique wallpaper
32 3/4 x 25 3/4 in.
Faces in the Crowd #14
2016
Glitter, beads, sand and mixed media on antique wallpaper
30 x 36 in.
Faces in the Crowd (LED Frame)
In Chris Tanner’s Art, Images That Look Back By Edward M. Gómez
Consider the so-called male gaze examining the male gaze itself as it lingers admiringly upon unclothed male bodies—and, pointedly, not upon those of disrobed women. Such a point of view, at once aesthetic, appreciative, erotic, and maybe even political, is the very self-aware starting point [. . .].
[. . .] Tanner evokes the meaning and spirit of that well-known line to call attention to how important the act of looking—meaning, for an artist, of observing, analyzing, and comprehending—is for him as a maker of images. [. . .] Tanner’s sly manner of letting viewers know that, in their own ways, however inexplicably or magically, his creations and their subjects may be seen as flipping their observers’ vantage points and, in effect, gazing back at them. After all, what is a supposedly interactive encounter with a work of art if not a reciprocally communicative, intellectual-emotional exchange between artist, viewer, and artwork alike?
[. . .]
Recently, Tanner told me: “I’m fascinated by line, color, and texture, in the human form or wherever I find them, and I’m not afraid of beauty. Whether my subject is something completely abstract, from my imagination, or something—or someone—in the ‘real world’ that I’m depicting, I’m going to make it beautiful.”
The enthusiasm Tanner brings to his own adventures and discoveries as an observer has long found expression in his art’s unabashed Artist’s Residence Portrait of the Artist by Chris Sharp celebration of the luscious, the sensuous, the glamorous, and all that dazzles and shines.
As a reflection of his creative drive, the art-making language Tanner has developed to give his aesthetic vibe tangible form is one that also waves a glitter-covered flag for the life force. It’s inescapable in his [. . .] wallpaper drawings, in which big eyes and big, ruddy lips emerge out of printed-pattern backgrounds like the free-floating faces of vixens in a fog [. . .].
[. . .]
Vivacious and finely handcrafted, Tanner’s creations share affinities with the thematic and technical concerns of certain kinds of works that emerged out of the Feminist Art, and Pattern and Decoration movements that flourished from the late 1960s through the 1980s. (Unlike many of his postmodernist peers, Tanner, a hands-on art-maker, would never think of sending out a design to merely be fabricated for him.) His art has also been influenced by his long, deep involvement in the theater as an actor, singer, playwright, and dramaturge. If a sense of spectacle comes naturally to him, it also flows directly into his art.
During a recent chat at his studio, the artist said: “I want to make art that grabs you—with color, light, energy, and life!”
Here’s looking at where that creative spirit has led him.
Here’s looking at you.