Featured Artist: Anthony Tanner
Image courtesy of Anthony Tanner“You can waste a whole lifetime trying to be what you think is expected of you, but you'll never be free.”
An interesting personality to read about, dentist cum artist, Anthony Tanner’s beliefs stem from the very experiences one begets in the course of encounters. Being a dentist, Tanner switched to becoming a full-time artist, sculpting abstract assemblages in stainless steel. Tanner exclaims, “I trained as a dentist and worked professionally in several capacities until retirement in 2003. Then came my "bucket list: Learn to sail: buy a boat: cross the Atlantic and a myriad of other risk-prone adventures.”
When Tanner turned 75, he fiddled with hobbies that ignited his dormant artistic temperament. He decided to experiment with stainless steel sculptures. Consequently, he enrolled himself on a one-day welding course. As his passion would pave the way, he collected several scraps, and recycled metal parts and converted his garage into a workshop. This onset carved an established push towards his journey in art. A self-taught metal artist, he also learned about electromechanical systems.
Image courtesy of Anthony TannerTanner's sculptures explore spirituality, science and technique. Working with a spontaneous method, the assemblages respond to each other through their original forms. They are not re-made, rather they are accorded.
He explains “My work is not contentious – I'm not trying to change society. -At worst people won't like it or will be underwhelmed, but when one lives in a liberal Western democracy, i’s all too easy to forget that much of the world does not enjoy the same privileges and rights that we do.”