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![Regner, Chris](/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2020-06/PT_RegnerChris_Image12.jpg?itok=cVbIloGU)
Chris Regner
Father Figures
My recent body of work has been a meditation on my challenging upbringing. I started the semester focused on constructing paintings of father figures: semiotic stand-ins arranged from found, manipulated, and appropriated images, compiled into a flimsy unsteady mass. The images used are derived from memory, stereotypical representations of masculinity, video games and technology, and airbrush vernacular. This assortment of signs is airbrushed thinly upon a textural, archetypal male silhouette, as if projected upon a man made of clay. I view this treatment as decorative and yearning, a vain attempt at creating a stand-in for an absent mentor, a monument to short-lived experience with a degenerate father, and the confusion of longing for something that you’ve never known. The pieces don’t quite fit, but there is a desire for cohesion. In a separate but related series, I have flipped the perspective to reflect on what my father would have wanted out of a son. The attitudes I would adopt, the costumes I would wear, and the editing needed to fit the mold are on display.
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![Regner, Chris](/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2020-06/PT_RegnerChris_Image5.jpg?itok=M39WW82d)
Father Figure No. 4 (Weekend Warrior)
70" x 54"
Acrylic, oil pastel, pumice, and molding paste on polyester over panel
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![Regner, Chris](/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2020-06/PT_RegnerChris_Image3.jpg?itok=5V4XLeFN)
That's My Boy No. 1 (One to be proud of)
70" x 54"
Acrylic and molding paste on polyester over panel
Image
![Regner, Chris](/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2020-06/PT_RegnerChris_Image6.jpg?itok=GbS0U5sa)
Father Figure No. 3 (Rejuvenator)
45" x 35"
Acrylic, molding paste, and pumice on polyester over panel
Image
![Regner, Chris](/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2020-06/PT_RegnerChris_Image7.jpg?itok=E-MUoNAE)
Father Figure No. 2 (Black Knight)
45" x 35"
Acrylic, molding paste, and pumice on polyester over panel
Image
![Regner, Chris](/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2020-06/PT_RegnerChris_Image8.jpg?itok=Sor82TK0)
Father Figure No. 1
45" x 35"
Acrylic and molding paste on polyester over panel
Image
![Regner, Chris](/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2020-06/PT_RegnerChris_Image11.jpg?itok=P6UmKYSb)
Ginger Motherfucker and Son on a Florida Vacation
40" x 30"
Acrylic on polyester over panel