ARTISTS

IRENE MCGRATH

DEAN MORAN

JOE NAVAS

Irene McGrath, born in Ireland, floated her way across the Atlantic 30 years ago and found herself in Dennis, MA. In her younger years, Irene studied and practiced painting with fierce academic fervor. Intensely dedicated to whatever is in front of her, she became a mother, and put painting aside to raise her son. When he came of age, Irene hurled herself back into the painting world, joining the Paul Schulenberg band of figurative studio painters, who continue to meet weekly and paint beautiful bodies, come hell or high Covid.

Irene walked into Tanuki in the summer of 2021, and, speaking in her

gentle Irish brogue, pulled out several large oil paintings and laid them in the parking lot in the glowing afternoon sun – landscapes, nudes, scenes of her world travels, and a few snarky and irreverent “fuck yous” to the uptight world of oil painting. I was smitten.

Once a relationship was forged, I watched Irene’s intensity and confidence grow. She painted ‘til her fingers bled. We took regular, long, freezing cold sunset walks together all over the Cape (but mostly in Dennis) to capture the most sensational reflections and shadows our peninsula has to offer– sometimes on camera to be reimagined in the studio, and sometimes en plein aire. We schemed this simple, sort of ubiquitous theme for a show, based on our mutual love of how billions of tiny pieces of glass take on the color of the sky, clouds, and salt water.

And thus, THE DUNE SHOW was born.
– Bekah Powers, Tanuki-in-Chief

Dean Moran is a mixed media artist whose paintings of landscapes, geometric shapes and therianthropic figures show the twisted interconnection between environment and the human consciousness. His background in graphic design and graffiti often comes through in his use of color contrast and shapes. Some work has an obvious Japanese influence clashing with bold black inked lines that resemble traditional tattoos.

A self-described over-thinker, Dean finds solace in bizarre imagery, drawing influence from dreams, existential dread, environmental destruction and mental torment. These thoughts and ideas are often blended with satirical imagery resulting in a drollness that hopefully confounds the viewer.  

Dean grew up in New Jersey the 1980s and 90s. He remembers wandering unsupervised through the museum where his mother was employed, soaking in the rotating exhibitions for his entire childhood. Dean now lives and works as a carpenter and artist on outer Cape Cod where the ocean plays a major roll in most aspects of his life.

His work has been featured in Rolling Stone, American Songwriter, the Wall Street Journal, Variety, Billboard, the Boston Globe, the New York Times, the Cape Cod Times, New England Runner Magazine and numerous other outlets.

His commissioned clients include Zudy, Specialized, G. Love, Jeffrey Foucault, Kris Delmhorst, Mark Erelli, Ani Difranco, Davey Faragher, Dan Minahan, Peter Mulvey, Carla Kihlstedt, Seth Glier, Monica Rizzio, Sarah Swain, The Cape Cod Symphony, Twenty Summers, Parsonsfield and numerous others.

Joe also leads workshops at the The Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Museum School at the Provincetown Art Association Museum and has taught as an adjunct professor at Cape Cod Community College.

i am

‘i am’ may at first look like what one might think of as ‘boudoir.’ But it’s different.

‘i am’ is about you knowing you’re worthy of your own love. It’s about taking ownership of the beautiful vessel that is home to your brain, your soul, your story.

You are the only person who decides what you are allowed to express, what you are about, what you have been and what you will become.

Everyone has the right to think they are powerful and miraculous and...enough.

‘i am’ is about you.