VanDillen currently has two bodies of work available to exhibit. The first is a collection of cosmic paintings, predominantly colorful and ethereal in nature. Each painting is based on real imagery sent back from the Hubble Space Telescope and others. However, some paintings are abstracted by the artist to represent concepts like gravitational lensing. VanDillen grew up watching rocket launches on Florida’s Space Coast, so space exploration has always held a special place in her heart.

The second body of work is a series of musically inspired paintings. These are created using only black and white paint, and many incorporate the wood they are painted on as a part of the image. She has also created a large hand-built and hand-painted guitar sculpture that is available as a part of this series. As someone who loves to play guitar, VanDillen thoroughly enjoys painting her favorite musicians and their instruments. Each painting is created listening to that particular artist’s music, with the hopes of capturing their essence as much as possible. She then carefully chooses a title based on a song that comes to mind when she looks at the
completed painting.

In order to create the exact sizes and shapes she requires, VanDillen hand-crafts each cradled wooden panel for her artwork. With her cosmic series, the wood grain intentionally adds depth and texture to many of the paintings if one looks closely through the layers. With her musician series, the exposed wood grain becomes a backdrop for many pieces, and a splash of color in others. She continues to play with the interaction between the painting and the wood background in her newer works.

Tanya VanDillen was born and raised in Satellite Beach, FL and received a BFA in Studio Art from Chapman University in Orange, CA. Currently, VanDillen resides in the Kansas City area.

www.tanyavandillen.com, @tanyavandillen