Tanner Simon’s paintings explore familiar visual tropes through the use of heroic scale and parodies of power. While not overtly political, Simon's work seeks to re-contextualize cultural truisms and common knowledge into icons of significance. His work is inspired by imagery created using MS paint and 3-D modeling softwares, often utilizing intensely flat fields of color and smooth renderings that evoke early internet meme culture. His use of strategic formal decisions and playfully vibrant colors fixes otherwise mutable subjects and imbues them with a bombastic presence. Simon's paintings assert their physicality through their scale and placement within space, forging a dynamic relationship with the viewer and questioning preconceived notions of their relationship with issues of representation, power, and meaning.
CV
B. 1998, Honesdale, PA | Narrowsburg, NY
www.TannerSimon.com | @tanner.simon
Education
2024 MFA, studio art, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
2020 BA, US History and Studio Art, magna cum laude, minor in Biological
Anthropology, Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, PA,
Professional Experience
2024 - Gallery and Grants Manager, Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, Narrowsburg, NY
2022 - 2024 Instructor of Record, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
(Beginning Drawing Fall 22, Fall 23; Beginning Painting Spring 22, Spring 23)
2023 - Residency Director, the Mothership, Woodstock, NY
Visiting Artist, Howard Blake School of the Arts, Tampa, FL
Graduate Woodshop Technician, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
2021 Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
(Intermediate Painting, Fall 21, Spring 22)
2019 Student Ceramics Technician, Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, PA
Solo Shows
2024 Big Soup Big Responsibility, Art Center Sarasota, Sarasota, FL
2023 H3ll's Kitchen, Gallery 501, Tampa, FL
Blue Nosferatu: Origins, Here and Now, Honesdale, PA
1,000 Landscapes, The Mothership, Woodstock, NY
1 WTC, The Mothership, Woodstock, NY
Napoleon & Friends, Carolyn Wilson Gallery, Tampa, FL
2022 Secret Mystery Artist No.1, DOCATPA, Tampa, FL
Group Shows
2024 I Keep the Ladders Clean, USF Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa, FL
Simonix International Retrospective, Main Street Gallery, Honesdale, PA
Sleep Paralysis (BONK), Carolyn Wilson Gallery, Tampa, FL
2023 Templates for Public Art 6, Wassaic Projects, Wassaic , NY
Exquisite Graveyard, Carolyn Wilson Gallery, Tampa, FL
Year of the Dragon Snake, Heiress Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL
46th Juried Show, Carolyn Wilson Gallery, Tampa, FL
An Ouroboros of Looking, Heiress Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL
Socks All Over the FLoor, Carolyn Wilson Gallery, Tampa, FL
Into the Night, Carolyn Wilson Gallery, Tampa, FL
2022 Karst Grounds, Tempus Projects, Tampa, FL
45th Juried Show, Carolyn Wilson Gallery, Tampa, FL
2021 Acquaintance, Carolyn Wilson Gallery, Tampa, FL
Horizons, Main Street Gallery, Honesdale, PA
2020 Off the Wall, Main Street Gallery, Honesdale, PA
2019 Emerging Artist Exhibition, Red Raven Art Company, Lancaster, PA
Collaborations
2023 “Sex Man,” Here and Now, Honesdale, PA
(performance in collaboration with Mason Carmody and Gary Moss)
Takeover Artist, @PsychicJacuzzi, Instagram Takeover Account
(Directed by Matthew Wicks)
“Jam Session,” The Mothership, Woodstock, NY
(performance in collaboration with Paul McMahon, Stan Warren, and “Lucky” Lenny)
2022 “USF Faculty Band,” Arthouse, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
(performance in collaboration with Sue Havens, Jason Lazarus, Matthew
Wicks, and Siebren Versteeg)
2019 “Joe Napot,” Gellert Hill, Budapest, HU
(performance in collaboration with Connor Simon and Vanessa Scharrer)
Screenings
2023 Film Slam, Official Selection, November Edition, Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL
Spooky Movie Festival, Official Selection, Canal Town, Honesdale, PA
Miami Underground Film Festival, Official Selection, Miami, FL
After School Program, Official Selection, Screen Door, Tampa, FL
Student World Impact Film Festival, Official Selection, New York, NY
2022 Tampa Bay Underground Film Festival, Official Selection, Port Richie, FL
Shit in the Dirt Film Festival, Official Selection, Portland, ME
Awards
2023 Spirit of Shit in the Dirt Award, Shit in the Dirt Film Festival, Portland, ME
Quarter Finalist, Student World Impact Film Festival, New York, NY
Honorable Mention, Student World Impact Film Festival, New York, NY
Robert Huff Scholarship, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
Talent Grant, 46th Juried Show, Carolyn Wilson Gallery, Tampa, FL
2022 Jason Rosenquist Scholarship, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
2021 Staton Storer Scholarship, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
USF Graduate Fellowship, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
2019 SCARP Grant, Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, PA
Residencies
2023 The Mothership, 2 week residency, Woodstock, NY
Vermont Studio Center, 2 week residency, Johnson, VT
2019 Scholarship and Creative Arts Research Project (SCARP) Residency, 10 week
residency, Elizabethtown College, PA
Bibliography
2023 Limited Time Engagement, “Templates for Public Art,” Vol. 6, Boston, MA
HV1, “Framing the scene,” June 21, 2023, Kingston, NY
National September 11 Memorial and Museum, works in online registry, NY,NY
Art Seen, Issue 9, Summer 2023, London, UK
2022 Black and Brass Blog, Tanner Simon, Honesdale, PA
Publications as Author
2019 "Renditions of a Changing Landscape in Lancaster County,” JayScholar,
Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, PA
“Disregarding Symbolic Color,” Fall, UMAD Literary Magazine, Elizabethtown College,
Elizabethtown, PA
Other Professional Experience
2021 Database Administrator, Wayne County Area Agency on Aging, Honesdale, PA
2017 Archive Assistant, Hess Archives, Elizabethtown, PA
Studios
2024 Honesdale, PA
2024 St. Petersburg, FL
2023 Honesdale, PA
2023 Johnston, VT
2021-2024 Tampa, FL
2020 Honesdale, PA