Inspired Art: "Montana (erased)" by Buddy Bunting

Dawn Quinn reviews Montana (erased) by Buddy Bunting in the current Tacoma Weekly: http://www.tacomaweekly.com/citylife/art/inspired_art/

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Inspired Art by Dawn Quinn
Published on Wed, October 27, 2010
http://www.tacomaweekly.com/

Buddy Bunting depicts ‘Montana (erased)’ at the Telephone Room.

Seattle artist Buddy Bunting takes a lot of road trips. In traveling the country, he returns home inspired to work on pieces that encapsulate what he has seen. The Telephone Room Gallery’s newest show, “Montana (erased),” highlights pieces and items he has made and found on a trip to the “Treasure State.”

One element of the exhibit that ties in with the Telephone Room Gallery is a voicemail that Bunting had received while he was away that prompted and inspired the works. According to the gallery’s press release on the show, “an erroneously left answering machine message detailing a stranger’s travels through Montana form the basis for Buddy Bunting’s ‘Montana (erased)’ – continuing the artist’s exploration of the western landscape, its mythology of transcendence, openness and expansion.”

The message was a coincidence, and Bunting kept it on his phone for quite some time. Fellow Washington artist Nicholas Nyland told Bunting about the Telephone Room Gallery and he deemed it the perfect place for his newest show. In the message, the woman relays a past trip during the 1960s in which she and her boyfriend visited and were not met with the warmest reception, which led to them driving through the state and not staying.

On the left wall of the space, eight oil-based pieces don the walls on paper, cardboard and other materials. A bird, train, rocks piled high in the middle of an idyllic valley, sunrise over the horizon, a vintage van, a lone, tall, aging building in the middle of nowhere, trees and a double payphone at night, as seen at a gas station all combine to form images that Bunting likely came across often in his travels, and that together form a personal story.

Straight ahead into the gallery, shelves house more pieces, found and formed by Bunting. A detailed rocky canyon and an ink and pencil depiction of a motor home with “Creation or Bust” and “Honk 4 Jesus” donning the sides frame a hexagonal vase filled with brown flowers. Below, more prints, this time colorful, rocks likely picked up on the road, a landscape photo filled with trees, Book of Mormon and Jehovah’s Witness pamphlets, a National Geographic issue from July 1971 and a phone armed with the infamous voice message fill up the rest of the shelves.

To the right, 10 pieces fill up the expanse of the sea foam green wall. An oil colored piece of canyons tops the left side, with simple color for the sky and brown landscape. Below, five pieces of paper that look as if torn from a Moleskine notebook are all placed in succession after the other with each utilizing only one color and each highlight a store sign or a car seen along the road.

The middle and right side of the wall feature three acrylic paintings, each varying greatly in content. The first has two children’s heads and below, another scenery shot of Montana’s mountain ranges fill the piece with jagged rocks jutting up, green moss covering them and a pale blue sky peeking through with clouds interspersed. To the right, a vivid interpretation of an empty gas station at night shows the brightness of the pumps and the lights of the shop, multi-colored tints that reflect from the ground and the ceiling and all together create an entrancing shot. A print of St. Francis in the dessert that Bunting possibly pulled out of a catalog rounds up the pieces on the wall.

Visitors to Bunting’s show should try to listen to the voicemail message before checking out the other elements, as it is what created the framework for every piece included. Upon playing, listeners will hear a story of a woman being in a remote area and a completely different world than she is used to. Much of Bunting’s works are about Western spaces and feelings of isolation, so the message appearing on his machine when it did was a fateful reminder of his intents and visit. The show fully utilizes the Telephone Room Gallery’s minimalist space and is an opportunity to take in new works from a renowned Northwest artist.

“Montana (erased)” will be on view at the Telephone Room Gallery starting on the night of the show’s opening, Nov. 5, which takes place from 6-10 p.m. and will show through Nov. 30. The pieces are viewable by appointment almost anytime, just e-mail at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com to schedule a time/day. For more information, visit http://thetelephoneroom.blogspot.com/ or “like” the Telephone Room Gallery on Facebook (www.facebook.com/Telephone.Room.Gallery).

"Montana (erased)" by Buddy Bunting

An erroneously left answering machine message detailing a stranger's travels through Montana form the basis for Buddy Bunting's Montana (erased) at the Telephone Room Gallery -- continuing the Seattle artist's exploration of the western landscape, its mythology of transcendence, openness, and expansion. The show features the actual answering machine message, as well as new paintings and found objects.

"I am fascinated by the western landscape, its mythology of transcendence, openness, and expansion. In researching certain sites of interest, there are diversions, many drawings, and wrong turns. I am compelled to make paintings of these places, paintings which resonate in the mind and require some time to reveal their effect."
---Buddy Bunting

Buddy Bunting, Cemetery at the Montana State Prison near Deer Lodge, Montana, photograph, 2008.
Photo courtesy of the artist.  

Buddy Bunting, creation or bust (honk 4 jesus), ink and pencil on paper, 5 x 7 in., 2010.
Photo courtesy of the artist.  

Buddy Bunting, Untitled, ink and pencil on paper, 5 x 7 in., 2008.
Photo courtesy of the artist.  

See more of Buddy Bunting's art at http://www.buddybunting.com/.

You can also listen to a 2009 interview with Buddy at http://podcasts.thestranger.com/2009/06/bunting.

 

Buddy Bunting is a Seattle based artist who works primarily in ink and watercolor on paper. His work has recently been seen locally at Winston Wachter Fine Art, the Tacoma Art Museum Northwest Biennial, Crawl Space Gallery, and the SOIL Gallery, as well as Powells Books in Portland, Oregon, and the Painting Center in New York City. He was a recipient of Artists Trust GAP Award for Individual Artists Projects in 2009 and 2004, a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 2008, and a 4Culture Special Projects Grant in 2005.

Montana (erased) by Buddy Bunting will be on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from November 5 - 30, 2010, with an everyone-is-welcome open house on November 5 from 6-10 pm. Viewable by appointment almost anytime -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

Teeny is Big

Oh, it just never ends, but we never mind it either... the Seattle Weekly named us the "Best Teeny Tacoma Art Space - 2010".

"Small is good, when you can get to it. At 12.5 square feet, The Telephone Room occupies a closet-sized space in a Dutch Colonial home that since 1930 had been occupied by nothing more than a black rotary-dial telephone. But in May 2009, this tiny room began housing artist-led installations by the likes of Blake Haygood, Ben Hirschkoff, Nicholas Nyland, and Kristen Ramirez. One exhibit featured floor-to-ceiling drawings, another was inspired by episodes of drunk dialing, and a third riffed on brass chandeliers. Directed by artists Heide Fernandez-Llamazares and Ellen Ito, the space is available to visitors by appointment and at monthly art openings." —Adriana Grant

I'd like to point out that Blake, Ben, Nicholas and Kristen aren't the only artists we've hosted. We also loved showing Tacoma a teeny bit of (in order of my memory) Shannon Eakins, Marc Dombrosky, Lisa Kinoshita, Matt Johnson, Jennifer Peters, Chris Sharp, Zack Bent and Gala Bent, Peter Lynch, Allison Hyde, Jeremy Mangan, Laura Komada and Paul Komada, Elise Richman, James Porter, Saya Moriyasu, Pei Pei Sung, Randy Wood, Jessica Bender, Noal Nyland, Julie Rivera, Jessica Balsom, and Ellen Ito.

Here's what the Telephone Room Gallery looks like when none of the above artists are showing in it:

Thanks Adriana!

"I don't hate anyone" by Chris Sharp will be on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from August 6 - 29, 2010, with an open house on the evening of August 6. Viewable by appointment almost anytime -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

Chris Sharp: "I don't hate anyone"

The Telephone Room Gallery is pleased to present "I don't hate anyone" by Chris Sharp, featuring painting and a whole mess of letterpress for the month of August. Open house and whirligig-making on Friday, August 6, 2010 from 6-9 pm.

Chris Sharp's beautiful hand-lettering adorns many of his canvases, and can also be seen all around Tacoma via his commercial sign-painting at Satellite Coffee, Infinite Soups, and The Rosewood Cafe, among others. He has most recently had solo exhibitions at Mineral and at the Pacific Lutheran University Gallery. He has an MFA in painting from Washington State University, and he was the recipient of the 2008 Greater Tacoma Community Foundation's Annual Foundation of Art Award.


Chris Sharp's old studio in the Merlino Building, circa 2006.
Photo courtesy of Chris Sharp.

 

Chris Sharp, Let It Roll, enamel on canvas, 2007.
Photo courtesy of Chris Sharp.

 

Chris Sharp and Beautiful Angle, Parking, letterpress, March 2007.
Photo courtesy of Beautiful Angle.

"Our friend Chris Sharp created this great broadside using a combination of vintage wood and lead type, original cuts and 70's era engravings with words by Tom. The muscle car engravings were part of a collection that was donated to Beautiful Angle by the good folks at Clinton Hull Printing when they moved from their location on Commerce in downtown Tacoma." --Beautiful Angle

Chris Sharp, Rainier, linocut, produced at the King's Books Wayzgoose 2009.
Photo courtesy of Anagram Press.  

Chris Sharp, PLU Gallery (installation in progress), September 2009.
Photo courtesy of Chris Sharp.



Chris Sharp, Satellite Coffee, mural, 2009.
Photo courtesy of Weekly Volcano.



Chris Sharp, City, watercolor and ink on paper, 2009.
Photo courtesy of Mineral.


You can read more about Chris Sharp on Exit133's A Conversation with Chris Sharp and in the May/June 2008 City Arts Magazine if you can find an old copy (it's not online).

"I don't hate anyone" by Chris Sharp will be on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from August 6 - 29, 2010. Viewable by appointment almost anytime -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

In The Garden/Eternal Flicker Flame Opening

Thanks to Ben and Nicholas, our June artists, and to everyone who came over last Friday. Pictured here is some of the art on view and some of the fantastic paper lanterns made by visitors.

How do you do?

Chris Sharp meets Nicholas Nyland's Running Bond (painted sheet metal, 2010) in the Telephone Room garden annex.

Artworks by Nicholas Nyland and Ben Hirschkoff will be on view from June 11 - 30, 2010. Viewable by appointment almost anytime - email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

And Chris Sharp's work will be at the Telephone Room in August 2010, with an open house on Friday, August 6!

Celebrating the Summer in the Garden

We're celebrating summer and our June artists, Nicholas Nyland and Ben Hirschkoff, on Friday, June 11 from 6-9 pm.

The evening will include a "flicker flame" lantern making activity inspired by Ben Hirschkoff's installation. You are invited to bring your own DIY paper lanterns to light up the yard, but please use battery powered flicker flame candles (to be found at Walgreens among other places).

This will also be a bittersweet Auf Wiedersehen for our gallery co-operator Marty who is moving to North Carolina to pursue a Master of Library Science at UNC Chapel Hill.

Update 6/8/10: Due to unforeseen circumstances, Julie Rivera will unfortunately not be on view at the Telephone Room in June. But we look forward to working with her in the future.

Novelty and Possession by Julie Rivera: An examination of two collectors and their need to collect and possess.

Julie Rivera, Untitled, photograph, 2009.


In The Garden by Nicholas Nyland
In June, the Telephone Room expands to include the adjacent garden where Nicholas Nyland will install playful sculptural works that respond to their setting and call upon a long tradition of ornamental garden sculpture.

Nicholas Nyland, Plaid Gnome, glazed ceramic, 2009.

Extended through June 2010:

Eternal Flicker Flame by Ben Hirschkoff
Using the all too common brass chandelier as a medium, Ben Hirschkoff's sculpture celebrates the artificial and symbolizes renewal, creation and destruction.

Ben Hirschkoff, Eternal Flicker Flame (detail), 96" x 28" x 5", reconfigured brass chandelier with flicker flame bulbs, 2010.



Artworks by Nicholas Nyland and Ben Hirschkoff will be on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from June 11 - 30, 2010. Viewable by appointment almost anytime - email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.