Sunbursts in the City of Shadows – John Bunker 

Sunbursts in the City of Shadows, 2011-12

New abstract paintings and constructions for a precarious present

''There is something simple but powerful about exposing the structure/skeleton of a painting – recycling its body parts – turning it both in on itself and out on the world. 'Sunbursts in the City of Shadows' works explicitly in the time-honoured dynamic of collage that is about rapidly responding to the immediate environment with whatever is to hand (both from the street and the studio). I find working with this tension between emerging structure and imminent collapse exhilarating. This approach to painting gives me a way of sensing the outside world and allows me to focus on how I process it internally.

''The twisting and the breaking of a paint covered canvas is like a kind of gestural drawing that works on the discoveries made in the improvised moment. Paradoxically this process highlights the sculptural aspects of painting as an object – something caught in a moment of transformation.

''It is in the rubric of abstraction that artists have historically tested the limits of what a painting might be. I set discovery via the contingent and impromptu against the the history of abstract painting – like an unstoppable force against an immovable object. I'm interested in how an abstract art can operate in the cracks and fissures in an image saturated consumer society. I would like to think that abstract languages in painting can act as a kind of cultural and personal critique.'' – JOHN BUNKER

email: thebunkers4@btinternet.com