“SALOON of Varieties” by Albert Tannat

22.10.2022 ------> 07.01.2023

SALOON of Varieties is an exhibition that brings together a mélange of works by Albert Tannat. This time, Tannat invites us into an aesthetic experience that reflects not only a single moment but also a confluence of several creative phases. SALOON of Varieties is Tannat’s invocation of a noise‑filled atmosphere (Ra‑Yacov), with shifting plants and arabesque motifs, bullfighters in pink stockings, a flying‑dolphin carpet, horses and carousels, bulls and serpents, lions and sea creatures — all gathered inside one great SALOON, one great happening. It becomes clear how Albert Tannat perceives the world, marked by the absence of any traditional standard of beauty. Yet his compositions become idyllic in the eyes of the viewer, thanks to the combination of his rough, imperfect line, his loud, joyful, contrasting color palette, the exotic patterns, and the random objects that float across his canvases. Together, they create a very particular balance in which time and space blur, giving rise to the unusual and metaphorical compositions so characteristic of the artist.

Albert Tannat was born in the high Swiss Alps and, during the early years of his adult life, sailed the northern seas as a sailor. He deserted one of these ships in Tangier, Morocco. He decided to stay there for many years, confronting the animal entrails, the intense smells of the dirty, dusty streets. He discovered the plasticity of the world: the colors, the sweaty bodies, the strong flavors. He created memories of fantastical and frenzied places, and in doing so began to pictorially translate the reality that surrounded him.

“(…) he ended up living in a shop that he quickly transformed into his home. A home that later became a home/studio, for it was then that he began to paint, materializing what he lived and what he felt. With a rented shop on Tangier’s slaughterhouse street, carnage was always present. (…)”; “(…) it is here that Tannat crosses paths with the world of boxing. Entering restricted circles, dubious and virile environments, rediscovering memories in illegal rings, creating fantasies in nights of madness, in abandoned warehouses, in opiate atmospheres of smoke and dust. Where visions turn into hybrid, primitive duels, where the smell of flesh is so STRONG! (pause) that he faints in a drunkenness of transmuted and empowered bodies in a boxing ring.

He wakes up surrounded by palm trees. He begins an addictive painting process.”

Mariana Frazão