I graduated from Otis Art College in 1998 and we learned of his contemporaries and took influence from them to develop and later in life I went to museums and saw and emulated the work and techniques of his peers, but I only found his work and about him now in the year 2023 and it has been nothing short of a revelation in my mind about the possibilities of my own painting as an American and as someone who is also a member of the Black community. I can’t get enough of Tanner’s work, his life story, his ideas and I am poring over his techniques. He is an absolutely gigantic artist and human being. And that shows so well in his art and now I am going to go back to the easel and try to do the same.
