Chris Cran: Sincerely Yours

For the last four decades Chris Cran has experimented with traditional genres of painting such as still life and portraiture while at the same time challenging preconceived notions of these genres by creating tensions between a wide range of discordant styles notably Op Art, Pop Art, Photo-realism and Modernist Abstraction. He further complicates the experience with trompe l’oeil compositions in which the appearance of an image belies the method of its creation so that works that appear to be photographs, reliefs, or prints have been in fact rendered with paint. Art historical references, spoofs of painting conventions, and images from pulp magazines of the 1950s and 1960s are layered throughout, resulting in works that exude a rare and unapologetic boldness. Yet underneath the multitude of styles, techniques and a slippery sense of humor lies an insatiable appetite for experimenting with ideas that captivate the intellect and imagination, often those surrounding conventions of perception, artifice, theatricality and the art experience. Cran’s work is proof that painting has not lost its power to be a dynamic, disruptive medium that can exist in a critical relationship to the world. Chris Cran has been exhibiting across the country since the late 1970s and his work is included in numerous private and public collections, among them the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Alberta. Cran has an active presence in Canada and specifically in Alberta where he has influenced a generation of artists at the Alberta College of Art and Design. He lives and works in Calgary.