{"id":1850,"date":"2013-05-11T07:38:34","date_gmt":"2013-05-11T11:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/?p=1850"},"modified":"2013-05-11T07:38:35","modified_gmt":"2013-05-11T11:38:35","slug":"gary-bukovnik-forever-spring-at-bonfoey-gallery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2013\/05\/gary-bukovnik-forever-spring-at-bonfoey-gallery\/","title":{"rendered":"Gary Bukovnik: Forever Spring at Bonfoey Gallery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, my son, John-Parker, was incredulous when I told him I didn’t have a favorite among my paintings.<\/p>\n

“Being an artist,” I told him, “is similar to being a musician. Sometimes I’m the composer and the theme is very important. Other times I am the performer and don’t care about the subject as much, but focus on stylistic issues, like how I handled the red colors.”<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Cleveland Museum of Art Opens Renovations<\/span><\/a><\/div>

I was pleased with my impromptu explanation but I could tell John wasn’t.<\/p>\n

In the highest art, a compelling theme is perfectly captured by its style. The style serves as a force multiplier that reveals and fixes its theme for all time. The marriage of theme and style is rare and very few works are in this category.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Stephen Pentak at Bonfoey<\/span><\/a><\/div>

Just below this lofty level are works that have equally captivating themes, but done in a style that does not add to it–no style as force multiplier for these works. Most so-called masterpieces are in this category. It is very, very easy to diminish a theme by a poor, or inappropriate, or overwrought style. Just avoiding these pitfalls is an accomplishment.<\/p>\n

Next are the works that do not have a captivating theme but are noteworthy due to their style. Most professional art—by far– is in this category. Bukovnik’s works currently on display at Bonfoey<\/a> are in the latter category.<\/p>\n

The Good<\/h3>\n
Read more<\/span>Cleveland Museum of Art Staff Exhibition<\/span><\/a><\/div>

Matisse<\/a>, that sly dog, said that he wanted to make paintings that were ‘armchairs for the mind,’  by which I take him to mean he wanted works that capture and hold the mind–objects of contemplation. This could be Bukovnik’s motto as well. The subjects for these large watercolors are neither original nor even unusual, but are selected for the opportunities they provide for intellectual pleasure.<\/p>\n

In each painting, a flower arrangement is centrally placed in an amorphous, unarticulated space. These devices emphasize the designs’ two-dimensionality. The painting in this photo is typical: shapes flow and dance in undulating arabesques. Things are off-kilter; shapes become unmoored from nonexistent  backgrounds.<\/p>\n

\"Bukovnik<\/a>
Bukovnik Watercolor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Read more<\/span>In the Studio—10\/28\/12<\/span><\/a><\/div>

The artist plays with these shapes with relish. The artist’s joy at his art-making produces a feeling of abundance and fecundity–perfect for his subject. Look at this detail. The addition of the ribbon in the vase is for no other purpose than intellectual pleasure.<\/p>\n

\"Detail<\/a>
Detail of Bukovnik Watercolor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Bad<\/h3>\n

When several paintings share the same subject matter and style, tendencies become apparent. The straightjacket of two-dimensionality imposed on the riot of forms results in some confusing and under-done passages. While many ambitious passages, such as those in the reproduced detail, are crisply realized, many are not. Some few of the works seem tired, and the artist repeats devices used elsewhere.<\/p>\n

The Ugly<\/h3>\n
Read more<\/span>Thumbs-up: van Ruisdael; Thumbs-down: Renoir<\/span><\/a><\/div>

Bukovnik suffers from modern gigantism–everything is magnified and magnified and magnified.  As an exercise, visualize the works at half- or quarter-size.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h3>\n

While annoying passages mar several works, the artist’s wit and love for painting carry the day. Moreover, Bukovnik is a mature and disciplined pro who stays within himself and keeps focused on what he does best.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Robert Smith<\/span><\/a><\/div>

First-rate.<\/p>\n

[Photos are mine but works  are copyright Butovnik.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, my son, John-Parker, was incredulous when I told him I didn’t have a favorite among my paintings. “Being an artist,” I told him, “is similar to being a musician. Sometimes I’m the composer and the theme is very important. Other times I am the performer and don’t care about the subject as much, but focus on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,10,76,6,46],"tags":[23],"class_list":["post-1850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artists","category-cleveland","category-galleries","category-paintings","category-reviews","tag-bonfoey-gallery"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":96,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2012\/10\/stephen-pentak-at-bonfoey\/","url_meta":{"origin":1850,"position":0},"title":"Stephen Pentak at Bonfoey","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"October 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The Bonfoey Gallery (1700 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH) is the kind of establishment I adore: it's an art gallery in the business of showing real, contemporary artists. \u00a0Places like it are rare outside New York City, and I tip my hat to them. \u00a0I make a point of visiting every\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Artists"","block_context":{"text":"Artists","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/artists\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2157,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2013\/07\/review-joseph-osickey-at-bonfoey-gallery\/","url_meta":{"origin":1850,"position":1},"title":"Review: Joseph O’Sickey at Bonfoey Gallery","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"July 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Just now there is a lot of news and information about O'Sickey. The Canton Museum of Art is hosting an exhibition of his work through July 21, and the Bonfoey Gallery's exhibition runs through the 13th. The Bonfoey exhibition--Travels: Provence and Maine--consists of an outstanding collection of large works that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Artists"","block_context":{"text":"Artists","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/artists\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"osickey1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/osickey1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2786,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2013\/11\/phooey-on-bonfoey\/","url_meta":{"origin":1850,"position":2},"title":"Phooey on Bonfoey!","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"November 15, 2013","format":"aside","excerpt":"Bonfoey keeps its door locked so visitors have to wait to be buzzed into the gallery. Yesterday, for the third time, I was prevented from entering the gallery because nobody buzzed me in. THIRD TIME. Were they all at lunch? Were they all at a party? My time is precious,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cleveland"","block_context":{"text":"Cleveland","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/cleveland\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":364,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2012\/11\/george-mauersberger-at-bonfoey\/","url_meta":{"origin":1850,"position":3},"title":"George Mauersberger at Bonfoey","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"November 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I walked into the George Mauersberger\u00a0exhibit at Bonfoey\u00a0expecting to see a passel of prints.\u00a0 Nope.\u00a0 While a few prints are on display, drawings and watercolors make up the lion\u2019s share of the show. \u00a0Even so, Mauersberger has a printmaker\u2019s personality\u2014a love of process and fondness for drawing. Most of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Artists"","block_context":{"text":"Artists","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/artists\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Work by George Mauersberger","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/maus3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":832,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2013\/01\/carl-gaertner\/","url_meta":{"origin":1850,"position":4},"title":"Carl Gaertner","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"January 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday was a lucky day--I discovered an artist new to me: Carl Gaertner\u00a0(1898-1952). \u00a0Gaertner's reputation is almost entirely local \u00a0to Cleveland, as \u00a0Robert Smith's is confined to\u00a0Dayton. Gaertner was born in Cleveland and lived in and around there until his death. \u00a0He taught for many years at the Cleveland Institute\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Artists"","block_context":{"text":"Artists","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/artists\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Gaertner: oil","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/gaertner-winter.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/gaertner-winter.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/gaertner-winter.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1052,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2013\/02\/gaertner-at-the-cleveland-museum-of-art\/","url_meta":{"origin":1850,"position":5},"title":"Gaertner at the Cleveland Museum of Art","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"February 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm an idiot, but you already knew that. After writing about discovering Frederick Gaertner in this post, I belatedly realized I had seen--on numerous\u00a0occasions, no less--one of his paintings at the Cleveland Museum of Art. \u00a0For some reason, I never connected that Gaertner with my Gaertner discovered at the Bonfoey\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art Museums"","block_context":{"text":"Art Museums","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/art-museum\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Furnace by Gaertner ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/gaertner-cai.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/gaertner-cai.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/gaertner-cai.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Gw6F-tQ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1850\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}