The Dixon is pleased to present the work of Memphis artist Daniel Tacker, who fuses analog and digital, commercial and natural imagery in his highly graphic and vibrantly colorful acrylic paintings.  Drawing upon his background in graphic design, Tacker employs that field’s traditional illustrative techniques, merging comfortable aesthetics with more stigmatized methods of creating art like graffiti.  He uses abstract forms, mass marketing and iconic figures to create a hybridized vernacular, identifying tensions of media and market driven culture. 

In The City Loves You, Tacker encompasses the connections between the rural and urban, organic and high-tech, consumer and mass-market driven environments. Through various techniques utilizing graphic design, ink, pen, marker, aerosol and acrylic paint, his art explores the dichotomy of all of these worlds and how they correlate.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Memphis artist Daniel Tacker began drawing and illustrating comic book characters at age 10. He received his first instant Polaroid camera later and developed a love of photography. Later at the University of Tennessee, he studied graphic design, watercolor, film, video, and photography. In 2002 Daniel graduated with a B.F.A in Media Arts. While there he won several awards as a student including the Faculty Award for his digital video work. In 2006, Tacker began to seriously explore the world of painting. In 2008 he began to combine all of his areas of discipline into his work. Since 2006 his work has been displayed locally at various locations such as Playhouse on the Square, Lisa Kurts Gallery, Eclectic Eye Gallery, the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art and South of Beale.

Opening Reception: Thursday, August 4, 6 pm