Classically rendered compositions that challenge viewers' perceptions
John Tarahteeff was born in 1972 and raised in Santa Clara, California. He studied art at the University of California at Davis, graduating in 1994 with a B.S. in Landscape Architecture and a minor in Fine Art. His paintings were first introduced by Solomon Dubnick Gallery in 1998 and since he has had numerous solo and group exhibitions and has been represented by Nüart Gallery for over a decade. Tarahteeff's paintings have been featured on the cover of American Art Collector Magazine, and his work is in countless private collections.
Tarahteeff is known for classically rendered compositions that challenge viewers' perceptions through plays of scale, unusual lighting, and the underlying psychological tension between innocence and knowledge. He pushes the boundaries of what is possible in figurative painting with a masterful use of acrylic on canvas. Tarahteeff creates set dramas that play out in deep undercurrents of the imagination. In his paintings, the moment is defined more by multiple potential meanings than by any plausible narrative. His situations are unresolved and suspended mid-action.
Ominous clouds and skies tinted lime or translucent blue provide a backdrop to the mystery and intrigue of John Tarahteeff’s new work. Voluptuous females reference old masters, such as 17th century painter Titian. They are pictured playing occasional instruments, wading into shallow water. Tarahteeff continues to incorporate heavy texture in places to describe rocky ground, a raised line to express an unwinding ball of yarn or trees and leaves dramatically advancing out from the picture plane. The inclusion of these psychological, pictorial elements works to his advantage both intellectually and aesthetically.
Tarahteeff's paintings vary in their degree of realism. Though the pictures often stretch how things really appear and sometimes juxtapose seemingly disparate objects, the worlds they represent usually obey the same physical laws of our own. "I continue to use texture as a way to explore the gap between the illusory image of a painting and its reality as a physical object. I am intrigued by the dialectic of texture simultaneously heightening the three dimensionality of the illusion while reaffirming the painting as a relatively flat decorative object."
His work is in the permanent collection of the Crocker Art Museum.
