Chris Cran

de Josée Drouin-Brisebois, Ryan Doherty, Nancy Tousley, William Wood, Bruce McCulloch

For the last four decades Chris Cran has experimented with traditional genres of painting such as still life and portraiture while 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. Published to document a nationally touring exhibition, this striking monograph provides a comprehensive overview of one of Canada's most influential artists. Original essays by leading art critics and curators accompany dozens of colour plates featuring Cran's shimmering, graphically delicate paintings. Enclosed within a translucent slipcase. Exhibition: Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada (19.09.2015-03.01.2016) / National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada (20.05.-05.09.2016).