The Cultural Center of Wyoming
Tara Banks: The Great Chase
ABOUT THE ARTIST
The bold strokes and colors of Tara’s work comes as no surprise if you know her energy. Tara’s background in design and painting blend seamlessly with her expertise as a hunter, trainer, and astute observer of the animals she studies. Tara’s hunting ethics are captured in her confident graphic style. The essence of every animal she captures on canvas is evidence of this great respect.
THE MEDIUM MATTERS
Tara has used acrylic paint for the paintings in this show. Many artists have preferred acrylics as their medium because of ther versatility, high pigmentation, and flexible durability. Andy Warhol, Helen Grankenthaler, Roy Lichtenstein, and David Hockney are among the artists known to have preferred acrylic over oil paint.
One of the reasons Hockney was so attracted to acrylics was because the have a short drying time. For his flat depictions of arid landscapes, Hockney exclusively used acrylics because their matte finish and fast drying time allowed him to rapidly later brigh hues without muddying his colors.
Similarly, Tara is able to retain the her highly saturated and clean colors by using acrylic paints.
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
What affect do the bright colors have on the animals depicted?
How to Tara’s active brushstrokes help to capture the character of these animals?
How are Tara’s animals different then other depictions you have seen?
