Into the Woods: The art of Tanner
The haunting forest scenes of New Orleans artist Tanner have a spellbinding effect on viewers. It’s easy to get lost staring into the depths of indigo fog and crimson sunsets, juxtaposed with layers of intricately painted tree silhouettes. Tanner’s unique, meticulous painting process gives each piece the illusion of great depth. You feel as if the woods may swallow you, but getting lost in these woods is a transcendental experience.c Tanner’s journey as an artist began in the small town of Semmes, Alabama. As a child, he found solace from a troubled home life in the dense woods surrounding his residence. When things weren’t going well at home, he retreated to the forest, escaping into the fanciful world of the dark trees and jewel-colored skies. The haunting sanctuary of the young artist later became his inspiration and touchstone.
Tanner moved to New Orleans as a young adult to follow his dream of becoming an artist. He studied at the New Orleans Academy of Art under founder and internationally known artist Auseklis Ozols as well as Adrian Deckbar, Katalin Gergo, and Darrell Brown. He spent a few years selling his work in Jackson Square, struggling to pay bills and experimenting with painting styles. He tried everything from mixed media to body art, but he finally found his niche when he began painting the woods of his youth. The striking treescapes soon caught the eye of the public. Before he knew it, Tanner was moving into his own gallery, and soon, he expanded it to include a studio space to keep up with the rising demand.
“Our neighbors on Royal Street had a little furniture store the same size as our gallery. They went out of business, and I thought, ‘That is going to be my studio. That will be where I work. That is where I’ll show and hang my originals.’” Tanner’s gallery offers both giclees and reproductions because the originals sell faster than he can paint them. “I don’t want the gallery to be known as a reproduction factory, so being able to paint in the gallery helps me keep up with making more originals. Plus, people like to see the artist at work.” Passersby are able to watch as Tanner forms intricately entangled branch designs and puts down glaze after glaze of deep, brilliant color. They often purchase pieces before he finishes them. “There have been times when I didn’t have any originals at all. Each piece takes several weeks to do,” he says.
“The way I paint is very different from most other artists. I don’t do any blending on the canvas. All of the mist you see in the paintings I blend on the palette. They’re very flat. I like to achieve a depth. To me it’s a challenge to create depth by keeping the surface flat.” Tanner has also been experimenting with size, trying to go larger and larger with each project. “I like to paint small, and sometimes I spend just as much time on the small ones as I do the large ones. People are asking for big pieces, though, so that’s what I’ve been doing more often. The one I shipped out today was a nine footer.”
Tanner does commissions, but in his own way. “I can’t let people tamper with my process too much, but they can tell me what kind of colors they like. The reason I do commissions is that some of my regular customers were getting a bit upset because the paintings were already gone when they got there. So, they began to commission me to be sure they got one. Oddly enough, the people who commission my work don’t want to give a lot of input. I don’t sketch anything out, which is a really big no-no in art school; their motto is you draw for days and paint in minutes. You plan it out and put the paint on there quickly. I do the exact opposite. Something really kind of cool happens. It kind of feels like I’m channeling something. I sit down and it just starts happening. Oddly enough, it always turns out.”
“I thought when I opened the gallery that the customers would be mostly tourists, but it’s really worked out to be about fifty-fifty. We get a lot of Louisiana residents, lots of people from Houston and Dallas, too. We also get travelers from Canada, Australia, Europe, all over, and for some reason, my work tends to resonate with them no matter where they’re from. They tell me, ‘These remind me of home.’ ‘These trees remind me of the black forest in Germany.’ People see what they want to see. The trees I paint are mostly inspired by those in Alabama and Louisiana; I’ve been in New Orleans since 1992, and at this point, I think I’m becoming more influenced by Louisiana. I just love being outdoors.”
“If my art makes someone forget their troubles, even for a moment, I feel like I have accomplished my goal,” Tanner says. “I feel strongly that many of our problems today are a result of us not being in nature anymore. We are surrounded by concrete, asphalt and plastic, which I believe unknowingly causes us a great deal of stress. It is my hope that my paintings will give the viewer a small sense of that tranquility nature provides us, and remind people how vital trees are to our existence.” ✦
