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Item Name: Painting
Title: Untitled (Lifeguard)
Maker: Chris Cran
Year: 1988
Country: Canadian
Materials: oil/acrylic on rag board
Measurements: work: 26.5 cm x 38 cm
ID Number: PC2017.33
Legal Status: PERMANENT COLLECTION


Extended Label Info: In his work as a painter, Chris Cran has explored methods of Photorealism, Pop art, and Op art through self-portraiture, landscape, still-life, and graphic arts. In his series of self-portraits, Cran uses a sharp humour to critique his identity. In his other works, Cran uses graphic images from the 1950s and 60s as a basis to explore optical effects and the mechanics of perception, “I’ve realized that my visual sense was formed by product and toy packaging when I was a kid in the 1950s.” In these works, Cran encourages viewers to look at the artwork from several angles, “Step closer. Step back. Look at pieces through the camera of an iPhone. If you shift your focus, the artwork appears to change, sometimes dramatically.” In this painting, “Untitled (Lifeguard)” Cran alternates red stripes with an image taken from a black and white photo. He is interested in how our brain filters one image to see another, but in so doing, is not able to read both simultaneously. Chris Cran RCA (1949- ) Chris Cran is a painter based in Calgary Alberta. He spent his childhood in British Columbia. In 1976, he began his studies at the Kootenay School of Art in Nelson. He then then moved to Calgary, Alberta to study at Alberta College of Art and Design, graduating with honours in 1979. In addition to his studio practice, Cran teaches at ACAD. Cran is married to Denise Clarke, an award-winning theatre artist with One Yellow Rabbit Performance Theatre, and he also teaches with their Summer Intensive. Cran is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. His artwork has been exhibited internationally and is held in private and public collections including the National Gallery of Canada, the Glenbow Museum, and the Art Gallery of Alberta.