SAVE THE DATE! Chris Cran: Manifesto…What’s Next

Saturday, December 12, 2020

Since  his most recent solo exhibitions: Chris Cran: It’s Still My Vault at the Nickle Galleries (2019), and Chris Cran: At Play at Glenbow Museum (2019), Chris Cran has continued to play in his studio, with a twinkle in his eye and gleam in his smile. Play is the one activity that, when performed freely, naturally, regularly, and without anxiety, leads the artist – any artist – into the realm of surprise, discovery,  and to solutions to challenges, and  – more importantly – to  innovation.

Nancy Tousley, curator of Chris Cran: At Play, commented critically on the notion of play in Cran’s studio:

Of course, Cran at play is also Cran at work. The difference between the two  activities is this: when the artist plays he uses his studio more as a lab than as a site of production and ignores the rules. At various times in his career, the well-known Calgary-based painter has engaged in periods of intense creative play, trying out a new idea, material or tool, or sometimes all three, and following the lead of one thing to another as something grabs his attention. The questions he asks himself are “What next?” “What next?” “What next?”

Nancy Tousley, One New Work – Chris Cran: At Play, Glenbow Museum, 2019, pp. 2-3

Chris Cran: Manifesto… What’s Next presents  Cran’s newest body of work, his  latest manifestations of play in the studio.

Image Credit:

Ambiguous History, 2020
Enamel paint on enamel steel
20″ x 14″