The impetus for this series was born of intimate conversations with each of the artists surrounding their studio life and the raw inspirations that take place there, away from the public eye. These exhibitions put on display the varied stages of time spent in the studio, calling gallery goers to take part in this communion. As the harbinger of all work, that studio space holds the utmost significance in the artist’s career allowing room for makers to develop methods, experiment with styles and take risks. Straight From the Studio is an invitation to support artists at all stages of their career, focusing on process over form, growth over formal execution. Nationale offers this exhibition as a way of making avenues to sustain artists at all stages of their career. 

With Riff, Tanner Lind approaches his painting in a manner similar to the way a musician might pursue the perfect, culminating melody. To riff is to meander and bring together repeated chord progressions or sets of notes towards a unified whole. These reiterations form the rhythm of the work, honoring change and sameness at once. In his paintings, change as a result of this exploration is celebrated. Deviating from a static interpretation of this musical practice, Lind’s riffs on lines, stains, and movement appear dynamically layered, building upon each other on the raw surfaces to create work that is breathing and active. Thick and swooping brushstrokes overlap gridded elements and punches of color that resemble sporadic airbrushed bursts on the canvases. Different shades of familiar grays and blacks in the painting Gravity Assist create a stunning depth in both style and execution, precisely demonstrating a repetitive technique that is far from stagnant. 

These decisions make up Lind’s ever-expanding lexicon of marks and thoughts surrounding a belief that experimentation is innately built into the creative process. As such, the paintings on view in this series each exhibit an individual evolution as much as a communal progress. They become remnants of an artist’s infinitely shifting discovery of change. 

Tanner Lind is an artist based in Portland, OR. His work has been exhibited nationally, most notably at the Plains Art Museum in Fargo, ND, the Hanson Howard Gallery in Ashland, OR, and at Melanie Flood Projects, Carnation Contemporary, and the Center for Contemporary Art and Culture in Portland, OR. Lind received his BFA in painting and drawing from North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND, and his MFA in Visual Studies at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, OR.

Visiting hours Monday 11am—6pm Thursday 11am—6pm Friday 11am—6pm Saturday 11am—6pm Sunday 12pm—5pm (usually)