Robert "Bob" Tannen (American/Louisiana, b. 1937) "Jackson Square" steel architectural model with movable elements. 120" x 144", cathedral h. 61" Provenance: The Pan American Life Center Art Collection, 601 Poydras Street, New Orleans, Louisiana. Notes: A native of Brooklyn, New York, Bob Tannen grew up in a small community at the end of Coney Island. His artistic predilections were apparent early and he spent his free time on the beach, building sand and driftwood sculptures and watching the effects time and the elements had on them. He attended the Brooklyn Museum Art School, The New School of Social Research and the Pratt Institute where he studied industrial design and urban planning. From the beginning, Tanner deftly combined an artistic sensibility with the necessarily practical aspects of environmental planning. As he once stated, "I don't think it is useful to make a distinction between art and life." The culmination of this approach is evident in works such as the multi-structure abstracted model of Jackson Square offered here. The various buildings are monochromatic and reduced to their most rudimentary, yet still easily recognizable, elements. See More