In a fascinating series, Pasadena artist Richard Bunkall explored juxtapositions of building facades with airships, locomotives, ships and whales, along with quotes from Mellville and other sources.
Older series focus on movie theater marquees and building faces, as well as more straightforward cityscapes. All are rendered with Bunkall’s wonderfully textural approach, in which a muted palette, softened edges, rough brushstrokes, scumbling and scraping produce a visceral feeling of stone surfaces.
Bunkall also worked with dramatic light and dark within his architectural spaces, as well as playful suggestions of unusual scale.
The official Richard Bunkall website features a selection of his work from several points in his career. Be sure to click through to the larger images, which are large enough to get some idea of the appeal of his large scale canvasses (though the server seems a bit slow, and it can take some patience to look through them).
There is also an Unofficial Flickr set that extends the range of visible work and a selection on Kennebeck Fine Art.
Bunkall’s life and career were cut short by A.L.S. (known as Lou Gehrig’s Diesase) a debilitating neuromuscular condition that gradually removes the ability to control one’s muscles. Through his struggle with the disease, Bunkall continued to paint, with adaptations of how the brush was held, or strapped to his hand, or with his body propped in positions that allowed him access to the canvas.
There is a new collection of his work. It was just published during an exhibition at the Pasadena Museum of California Art which ends on April 22, 2012.
The book can be ordered directly from the website, and a portion of the proceeds will go to the Richard Bunkall Research Fund at Project A.L.S.
[Via William Wray]
