Anthony Tanner

  • I trained as a dentist and worked professionally in several capacities until retirement in 2003. Then came my "bucket list"-

    Learn to sail: buy a boat: cross the Atlantic and a  myriad of other risk-prone adventures.

    "Very late-onset mid-life crisis," said, friends :( at least the 3rd said I)

    Along the way, I dabbled in acrylics, and although I could paint very good copies of portrait photos, I could never achieve a convincing result painting real people.

    In 2018 with my 75th birthday on the horizon, I began to think about less risky hobbies that might last me into my dotage.

    I've always been a bit of a Jackdaw, attracted to shiny metal -

    And so it came to pass that I decided to have a go at stainless steel sculpture.

    So I took a one-day welding course and emerged an "expert "(not), bought a load of very ancient, very cheap but clapped-out machines and transformed my garage into a workshop.

    I decided at the outset to try and use recycled metals scavenged from scrapyards wherever possible.

    Thence began a long and very steep learning curve ( almost vertical on occasions and sometimes overhanging).

    So I became a self-taught metal worker and metal sculptor and along the way learned a little about electromechanical systems.

    After 6 months of hard work my first large piece emerged. 鈥滲uddhas Enlightened 鈥 A metaphor for Change鈥 which combined traditional metalworking techniques with modern technology.

    Family and friends were very surprised by the result which had been under wraps till completion - "you seem to have a knack" said one - all the more surprising as I'd never before shown any symptoms!

    And so, having  very recently connected with my "inner sculptor", and armed with newly found skills and a recipe I had stumbled on in my first project, I felt emboldened to have a go at Chaiya 2020 - theme,- "God is...."

    鈥淟ight at the end of the Tunnel 鈥 a Metaphor for Hope鈥 was the outcome and I was fortunate enough to make it through to the winner鈥檚 exhibition in May 2021 at the OXO Tower Gallery in London.

    My most recent work is a Covid inspired small-scale working prototype to demonstrate the principle of my ideas for a much larger work, which I hope to build as a commissioned piece.

  • 馃摴 Video - Going Viral Sculpture

  • 馃寪

  • 馃帹 Artwork by Anthony Tanner

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