Sold for: $37,250

PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Private Collection, Calgary

LITERATURE
Grant Arnold, Chris Cran: Loved by Millions, Art Gallery of Windsor, 1989, reproduced plate 3
Victoria Baster, Chris Cran: Heads, The University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, 1993, reproduced page 15
Barbara Racker et al, From Soup to Nuts: Pop Art and Its Legacy, from the Collection of the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Eastern Washington State Historical Society and University of Lethbridge, 1998, reproduced page 72
Josée Drouin-Brisebois, Ryan Doherty, et al, Chris Cran: Sincerely Yours, National Gallery of Canada, 2016, reproduced page 46

EXHIBITED
Stride Gallery, Calgary, Chris Cran: Paintings, April 1986
Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Inherent Vice, December 5, 1987 - January 24, 1988
Art Gallery of Windsor, Chris Cran: Loved by Millions, 1989
University of Lethbridge, From Soup to Nuts: Pop Art and Its Legacy, from the Collection of the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, 1998, traveling in 1998 - 2000 to Cheney Cowles Museum, Spokane, Washington and J. Wayne Stark University Center Galleries, Texas A&M University
University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Artist’s Artists, June 5 - September 22, 2006
National Gallery of Canada, Chris Cran, Sincerely Yours, May 20 - September 5, 2016

Heffel had the opportunity to ask Chris Cran a few questions about his painting, Self-Portrait Just Two Maos Down From Some Guy with a Goddamned Tea Cosy on his Head.

Heffel: “So Chris, I’ve been pondering the work for a few weeks now, and I love how the viewer is able to insert themselves into the work and create their own narrative. On the left of the canvas is your self-portrait - you have removed your hat as a sign of respect for the gallery setting, but your intense stare and tight grip on the hat’s brim signal silent frustration. The figure in the tea cosy is blissfully unaware. Both figures in the painting stand in front of a Mao portrait, while the viewer is confronted by a Mao of their own. Mao is dead centre, addressing the viewer. It creates the sensation that the viewer is the third person in the gallery, intimately involved in the tense and unusual scene.

When I first saw this work, I thought you were exploring themes of popular culture and fame, is that what you were going for?”

Chris: “It doesn’t actually explore popular culture at all. At the time, I was playing around with Trompe-l’œil as a technique, I’d use realistic imagery to push the illusionistic materiality of the work as I did with the dark shadows underneath the faux Warhol portraits which push them forward visually into a space in front of the picture plane.

Also, realism was on the downturn in the 1980s but I was interested in it because I like things that aren’t current. When I was in school, artists didn’t talk about money or sales, they didn’t focus on themselves or do a lot of self-portraits, but I wanted to do things that were against the grain.

Heffel: “I’ve seen many photographs of you over the years posing in front of paintings, deliberately blocking them from the viewer or photographer. Is that pose that you do a cheeky reference to this work?”

Chris: “Haha, no, not really. For years now, John Will and I have had an ongoing rivalry - it’s not really a competition - or at least not anymore, it’s more of an inside art community joke at this point that we’ve just kept going. I guess it’s a reference to that, which started when I took a selfie doing the same pose in front of one of his works.”

Heffel: “This is a two-part question. First, this work was painted in 1985, on the verso, it’s inscribed “hang 1 ½ feet from floor”, is that so when you stand in front of it, you are in perfect eye level with, well, yourself and Mao? Secondly, almost 40 years later, should we be hanging it a little lower, or do you still feel 1 ½ feet off the ground is an accurate height for you?”

Chris: “…”

All prices are in Canadian Dollars

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