Fri 5/20 @ 5-8PM
Artist Gary Bukovnik grew up in Cleveland and attended the Cleveland Institute of Art, but he’s been working out of San Francisco since 1974. Bukovnik, who works in watercolor, monotype, lithograph and metal sculpture, has been attracted to flowers since he was a boy fascinated by his grandmother’s greenhouse in Cleveland. The flowers are the focus of his watercolor show Return of Spring, which opens this week at the Bonfoey Gallery, and runs through 6/18.
“Bukovnik’s work fuses sensual vitality with fluid colorations, creating floral images of tremendous depth and intensity,” says the gallery’s release. “Gary Bukovnik is masterful at freezing a moment, creating time and space for a viewer to take in his composition. Flowers burst from their holdings and leap from the paper. Bukovnik has such a deft use of watercolor that his petals, stems, and leaves appear to radiate with an inner light. One can almost expect his paintings to have an aroma of amaryllis or camellias.”
A free public opening reception will take place Fri 5/20 @ 5-8pm. The following day, Sat 5/21 @10:30am, Bukovnik will give a gallery talk and painting demonstration and a member of the Greater Cleveland Orchid Society will talk as well.