Monthly Archives: April 2024

Mark Moore Fine Art is very pleased to present a debut Exclusive ARTSY Online Exhibition titled, “Disrupted Landscapes” of new mixed media work by JENNIFER GUNLOCK.

VIEW THIS SHOW NOW AT: bit.ly/3YYHY3r

Jennifer Gunlock’s work explores the relationships between the objects of nature and those imposed upon them by human activity. By layering photographs taken on her travels, decorative papers and drawing, she constructs tree-based forms which are awkwardly fused with architectural motifs. Each composition reflects a long passage of time in which buildings and trees stretch and crumble, each pushing against the other. The work is a commentary on humanity’s direct impact on the environment, as well as Earth’s interminable shapeshifting over the long history of its existence.

“In her mixed media collages, Gunlock explores the restless intersection of nature and the built environment. She depicts trees with rugged branches and burly roots wrangling with residential facades, windows, gates and other architectural features. Gunlock captures a fleeting moment in this struggle, one in which nature and architecture seem to co-exist in a colorful equilibrium, if only for a moment. Gunlock alludes to historical patterns of overshoot, which are marked by excessive demand for natural resources, followed by eras of human decline and the slow recovery of forests and ecosystems. But in these works, Gunlock offers a vision of a hopeful future in which the built environment is woven sustainably into the natural world.”

-Al Grumet of Art Works for Change

Based in Los Angeles, Gunlock has received an MFA at California State University, Long Beach in 2003. A 2022 recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant, she has exhibited nationally and in local venues such as Sturt Haaga Gallery at Descanso Gardens, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Launch LA, and Angels Gate Cultural Center. She has been Artist in Residence at Cill Rialaig Project in Ireland; Playa in Summer Lake, Oregon; Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts in Saratoga, Wyoming; and at the Pajama Factory in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, among others. In 2014-15 Gunlock participated in “Fires of Change,” an NEA-funded collaboration between artists and scientists, to translate the social and ecological issues surrounding wildfire in the Southwest. Following a fire science bootcamp in the Grand Canyon, and a year to complete a project, a group exhibition opened at Coconino Center for the Arts in Flagstaff, Arizona in September 2015 and traveled to the University of Arizona Museum of Art in Tucson and 516 Arts in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

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Image: Mark Bennett, The Pritchett Family Plans (Modern Family), 2017 / Lithograph on Rives BFK paper / 29 × 40 in / Edition of 20 + 2AP

Named Best Documentary at the New York Shorts International Film Festival!

Capturing what feels like a lifetime in only 15-minutes, Matt Pizzano’s The Grass Is Always Greener On TV charts the life of Mark Bennett, who became famous for blueprinting every detail of the homes in the 1950s television shows he religiously watched as a child. An incredibly moving artist profile doc, the film’s glossy production and rich narrative arc echo much of the charm of the classic Hollywood that Bennett himself adored. In exploring one man’s attempt to escape into a fantasy world, Pizzano beautifully encapsulates the essence of an artist who must overcome his demons.

VIEW THIS FILM AT THE FOLLOWING LINK: https://youtu.be/_5UGXThye7M

The Grass Is Always Greener On TV uncannily juxtaposes the dark parts of Bennett’s life with the surreally perfect lives within the television shows he obsessed over. Using a combination of home video, talk show appearances, and interview footage (along with a bit of re-staging), Pizzano, alongside producer Nic Wehmeyer, build a story that feels like it should play on one of the old television screens where Bennett found so much comfort.

Accentuating the ironic comparison, the film was shot in the classic 4:3 aspect ratio, with a musical score that sounds just like something from decades past. As various clips from I Love Lucy and Leave It To Beaver play over Bennett’s confessions of a traumatic childhood, the effects of which would continue to plague him well into adulthood, Pizzano chillingly reveals the dangers of living in fantasy.

Pizzano’s greatest challenge was finding a way to bring to life both Bennett’s internal struggle and his vivid imagination, in a way that didn’t distract from the story. Motion graphics were therefore employed to illustrate Bennett’s work, with the help of the director’s creative partner and producer of the film Nic Wehmeyer.

As Bennett’s blueprints animate over the shows he studied so meticulously, Pizzano was able to translate the artist’s thought process to the screen. Coupled with stylish editing techniques, The Grass Is Always Greener On TV transcends the traditional profile doc and strikingly depicts a journey of a man who must overcome deep trauma and abuse.

Delightfully empowering and one of the most compelling real-life character arcs we’ve seen in a documentary, The Grass Is Always Greener On TV reminds us all how important it is to accept ourselves and others, flaws and all.

For more information on Mark Bennett, please contact: info@markmoorefineart.com

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Eric Orr Film Documentary

I hold these works of Eric Orr very dear to my heart as I had the honor and the pleasure of representing and exhibiting the artist from 1984 until 1994, when I moved my gallery to Santa Monica. Eric Orr was an incredible artist and his works are vastly underappreciated in the context of both Light and Space works from the West Coast and his painting and sculpture of the Eighties and Nineties. I would highly recommend that you view the excellent film on his life and work recently released by his daughter, Elizabeth Orr. 

The film is called “Crazy Wisdom,” in honor of the kind of holy madness that Orr admired in Buddhist thought, and that he lived every moment of his life. Peggy Orr says that her husband was “a showman, a personality, a genius…” His friends, interviewed by Elizabeth for her film, concur, and have a few more comments on top of that. For your reference, you can view a two-minute trailer for this film online at the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H77cb2ZrEI&feature=youtu.be

ERIC ORR (1939-1998)
Without Red, 1983
Oil, blood, and chinese hair on canvas with lead frame and gold leaf
29 × 24 × 1 1/2 in / 73.7 × 61 × 3.8 cm

In both his installations, sculpture and paintings, Eric Orr worked with elemental qualities of natural materials; stone, metal, water, and fire, gold leaf, lead, blood, human skull, and AM/FM radio parts. Orr worked with the phenomenological exploration of perception. His body of work also includes monochromatic paintings, and large-scale fountains (with water & fire). His work was influenced by a religio-philosophical conceptualization of space icons found in ancient religions and cultures, such as Egyptian symbolism and Buddhist Spiritualism. Orr is associated with Light and Space, a group of mostly West Coast artists whose work is primarily concerned with perceptual experience stemming from the viewer’s interaction with their work. “The space itself changes you, instead of an object.”

He was “an outlaw,” says Kent Hodgetts, “a raconteur,” says Larry Bell, “terrifically literate,” says Maurice Tuchman. Susan Kaiser Vogel remembers his “unconditional friendship,” and that he provided “adventures in the crazy zone.” Orr was, in fact, California’s version of Yves Klein, a metaphysical adventurer who was unafraid of limits and who saw potential where others saw impediments and voids.

By his death in 1998, Eric Orr had fearlessly taken his experiential art in an astonishing range of directions, while at the same time remaining interested in essential experiences and elements. He might have been surprised to find that his work has had a kind of reincarnation through the efforts of his children. “I also relate to early Buddhism in that I have no sense of the afterlife,” he once told me. “I think we’re like television sets, and when we die, the off button is pushed and the show is over.”

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