Seth Tane: The Painted City

SETH TANE THE PAINTED CITY

Seth Tane brilliantly paints the pulse of a city moment in his hyper-realist tableaus that surely qualify him as one of the finest contemporary painters of the American city verité. He captures not just the verisimilitude of place but, as importantly, he brings to his canvases the hustle and bustle of the people that live there. Tane is a painter of place and time, capturing a sense of immediacy. One feels that he is so much of the scenes he paints that if the oil he paints with was any more reflective one could see his face in them.

This current exhibition of works entitled “The Painted City,” includes urban scenes inspired by Tane’s intimate links to New York City, San Francisco, and other environments that Tane has experienced over the decades of his life. In these works, Tane shares with the viewer scenes of busy subway stations, bustling city sidewalks, as well as shipyards and railroads, most with the immediacy of being in the place, in the moment, and relating it all in with technical proficiency in the most exquisite of detail.

About his vision and artistic background Tane states:

“My origins are in New York City, but I was bound for the West Coast as soon as I could get there...making paintings of industrial and urban scenes while enjoying a wild ride of a life on land and at sea. My hands-on experiences in a world I find visually fascinating drives my desire to create detailed paintings of ships, trains, bridges and industry. My gradual return to residency in New York has renewed a fascination with the global mix of people that surround me as I live in and travel througho ut the City. The crowds and faces, the clothes and things transported, that 24/7 intensity in contrast with the views I find at the deserted margins, all make for endless inspiration.”

Casey Parks, writing in The Oregonian, has aptly observed: "His pieces are representational, but verisimilitude is not the point here. Oil allows an intimacy that a real-life tour of a shipyard might not. Tane renders light and shadow with subtlety and care."

Tane counts as his influences the work of artists Edward Hopper, George Bellows and the early 20th century Ashcan School painters. Tane’s “Canal & Lafayette,” for example, is reminiscent of Bellows' staccato rhythms of color found in his paintings of New York City.

While Tane’s subject matter is varied, he is especially drawn to painting urban scenes. “The hustle, the incredible diversity of people. The captivating street scenes and subway life provide me with endless ideas and subject matter,” he says.

Tane studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and has exhibited his work in over 50 solo and group exhibitions, including the esteemed Louis K. Meisel and Bernaducci-Meisel Galleries in New York, and the Modernism Gallery in San Francisco. The excellence of Tane’s work was acknowledged in 2020 with his award of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant.

Born in New York City in 1953, Seth Tane currently works in New York City on a self-elevating vessel used in offshore mineral exploration, known as a liftboat, which he uses as a residence and studio on the Hudson River.

Stockton & Clay, S.F., 2011

Oil on panel, 47.50 x 71.25 inches

Upstairs, 2006

Oil on panel, 20 x 24 inches

Sortie-X, 1979

Oil on panel, 11.50 x 14 inches

Deserted, 2014

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

All Eyez on Me, 2023

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

Back Rub, 2014

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

Canal & Lafayette, 2016

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

Christopher Street, 2022

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

Cosmo, S.F., 2013

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

Looking Down at the Bowery, 2019 Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

Kearny & Market, S.F., 2013

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

Slice, 2023

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

Union Square Halal, 2013

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

Sabrett, 2013

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

Gyro, 2013

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

Can You Hear Me Now?, 2023

Walker, 2014

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

On Many Levels, 2014

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

The Larkin Wombat, 2014 Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

Waiting Area, 2014

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

59th Street, 2015

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

Miller Creek Local, 2023

Oil on panel, 24 x 36 inches

5 Train, 2015

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

Pointy End of the Platform, 2017 Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

Switcher, 2015

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

X-1852, 2007

Oil on panel, 20 x 24 inches

C Train, 2013

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

A Train, 2014

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

Lonely Platforms, 2014

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

Upper Deck, 2014

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

Swift Fair, 2009

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

Fortune Spirit, 2010

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

Harmony, 2007

Oil on panel, 20 x 24 inches

Hudson Line, 2017

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

Chelsea Rooftops, 2014

Oil on panel, 6.75 x 10 inches

SETH TANE B. 1953 in BRONX, NEW YORK

EDUCATION

1971-73

Rhode Island School of Design, Sculpture, Providence, RI

SELECTED SOLO AND GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2022 350 Bleeker, New York, NY

2021 Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary (Virtual fair), ABFA Gallery, Binghamton, NY

Pocket Sized (Virtual group show), ABFA Gallery, Binghamton, NY

2020-23

2020

2019

Art in Embassies, US Embassy, Muscat Oman

Shifting Horizons, ABFA Gallery, Binghamton, NY

Urban/Rural (Virtual group show), ABFA Gallery, Binghamton, NY

ABFA Gallery, Binghamton, NY

Art Wynwood Art Fair, 350 Bleeker, New York, NY

Food for Thought, Louis Meisel Gallery, New York, NY

Palm Springs Art Fair, ABFA Gallery, Binghamton, NY

2018 Scope Miami Fair, ABFA Gallery, Binghamton, NY

ABFA Gallery, Binghamton, NY

Modernism Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2017

2016

Art Miami Fair, Modernism Gallery, San Francisco, CA

In a New York Minute, Helena Fox Fine Art, Charleston, SC

Landscapes, SFCC Gallery, Spokane, WA

Size Doesn't Matter, Bernaducci-Meisel Gallery, New York, NY

Art Miami Fair, Modernism Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2015 Art Miami Fair, Modernism Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Art Silicon Valley/San Francisco Fair, Modernism Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Modernism Gallery, San Francisco, CA

GBD Architects Gallery, Portland, OR

CentrlOffice Workspace Gallery, Portland, OR

No Ad digital curated app exhibit on NYC Subway by the Subway Art Blog

2014 Contemporary Realism, Cavalier Galleries, Greenwich, CT

Cavalier Galleries Project 3W57, New York, NY

Industry & Art, Portland, OR

The Beautiful, William Rolland Gallery, CA Lutheran U., Thousand Oaks, CA

Above & Below, Deborah Berke Partners, New York, NY

2013 New York + New Work, Victory Gallery, Portland, OR

2012-13 PDX Int. Airport Terminal B

2012 Industry & Art, Portland, OR

2011 Industry & Art, Portland, OR

Concealment & Disclosure, Atlantic Gallery, New York, NY

2010 PDX Gallery, Portland, OR

Water, Atlantic Gallery, New York, NY

2009 Town & Country, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR

1991 Trident Chamber of Commerce, Charleston, SC

S.Carolina Contemporary Images, Owensboro Museum of Fine Art, Owensboro, KY

1990 City Gallery, Charleston, SC

Charleston's Maritime Heritage, Gibbes Gallery, Charleston, SC

1989

1987

1985

1979

The Artist and his Style, Gibbes Gallery, Charleston, SC

Piccolo Spoleto Charleston, SC

The Tradition in Steel, Nassau County Museum of Fine Art, Roslyn Harbor, NY

Keenlyside Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

1978 N.W. Artist's Workshop Gallery, Portland, OR

1977 Linfield College, McMinnville, OR

1976 C.M. Russell Museum, Great Falls, MT

White Gallery, Portland State University, Portland, OR

1975 Winter Gallery, Portland, OR

1972 RISD Woods Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI

1970 Young Realists Show, Harbor Gallery, Cold Spring Harbor, NY

Square 1, 2, 3, 2023

inches

Times

Oil on panel, 24 x 36