His Mobile Childhood Inspires His New Orleans Art

The artist Tanner has found his mark by calling on his past

TANNER'S EXHIBIT WILL BE ON DISPLAY THROUGH APRIL 2009 AT NEOPHOBIA AT 2855 MAGAZINE STREET IN NEW ORLEANS.
YOU CAN ALSO SEE HIS WORK AT www.hauntingart.com

In a shop on New Orleans' fashionable Magazine Street, an artist stands in front of some remarkable images.... the bulk of them shadows of trees... something that sounds not unusual... until you see them.
"I didn't really fit in school, so I had kind of a hard time in school" he says, looking at the wall of work.
" I never could wait to get home and go out in our pasture..."

As a young boy growing up in Semmes, Gary Tanner would seek out the solitude surrounding his parents' rural Mobile County home. And with his mind's eye he would photograph a place that know one else could see.
Until now.

"And I'd go out there for hours until it got dark and just lay on the ground and look at the trees, basically. I always felt at peace there."

It was a peace Tanner left behind as an adult, choosing the energy of New Orleans as his next inspiration. There he would turn his creativity toward acting, movie effects... and painting in the French Quarter's Jackson Square. And it was through his painting that Tanner's memory of that peaceful place in Semmes would manifest itself.

"I got picked on at school a lot and stuff, and I was really skinny. And I always imagined a place that was kind of scary where my enemies couldn't follow me, basically. And I think that's why it has that kind of peacefulness and kind of creepy at the same time."

You won't find Tanner's work in a gallery, where you'd think you might find it. No, right now, you'll only find him in Jackson Square and right here... at this shop on Magazine Street.
Looking for a way to draw new customers into his retro furniture shop, Vic Loisel invited Tanner to use his space for the artist's first ever official public showing. Turns out it was a perfect match.

"We were pleasantly surprised at the turnout," says Vic. "And sales for both him and us kind of built on each other."

No, it's not that peaceful, private place where tanner found security as a child. But he no longer has to go there. Because he carries it with him everyday.
"And some people get it and some people don't," says Tanner quietly. "But that's fine."

In New Orleans, Here's Darwin, NBC 15 News.