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Jef Gunn

Artist based in Portland, Oregon
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Bath Tub.  1978
Bath Tub. 1978

approx.48" x 36"
oil on canvas
Santa Cruz, California

 

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Stone and Light    2001
Stone and Light 2001

33" x 66"
encaustic, ink, paper (woodcut) and gold leaf on panel
'Cierre los ojos y ábrelos.
No hay nadie, ni siquiera tu mismo.
Lo que no es piedra, es luz.'
 - Octavio Paz

Close your eyes and open them.
There is no one, not even yourself.
That which is not stone, is light.

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Dawn River       1990
Dawn River 1990

approx. 3 x 6 feet
encaustic, tar, tar paper, galvanized flashing, gold leaf on panel

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Koh-I -Noor      1995
Koh-I -Noor 1995

67" x 48"
oil, encaustic, steel, linoleum and gold leaf on panel
Koh-I-Noor means Mountain of Light in Farsi.
Seattle

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El Chivo Que Baila      1987
El Chivo Que Baila 1987

150 x 100 cm
oil on burlap
Found a bundle of burlap neatly folded on the curb near the Plaza del Pino, Barcelona. Made a series of dancing goats in response to a gypsy band that would show up on my street. Older brother on a trumpet, sister and younger brother on simple drum and tambourine, and the goat would climb the step ladder and dance on the top step. Pocket money flowed. I was also looking closely at Romanesque art in the Museo Nacional del Arte de Cataluña, and the work of Antoni Tàpies.
(Barcelona)

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Open Passage         1997
Open Passage 1997

5 x 7 feet
oil, encaustic, wood, steel on panel
Roughly inspired by Deception Pass on the north end of Whidbey Island.
Seattle

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Night Snow      1992
Night Snow 1992

approx. 19" x 20"
oil on canvas
Bill knocked on the door one night at about 10:45. "It's snowing. Get your gear.."

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99 Birds
99 Birds

approx. 48" x 108"
oil, paper and wax on panel

 

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Plumb 1989
Plumb 1989

A number of paintings came out of a mysterious overnight excursion to Mount Rainier with my dear friend Jeffree Stewart. A lightness of being arose as we hiked in fog and lightning. Later, working as a carpenter I found that when checking a level for plumb while setting a doorjamb or a stud, there again was that small moment of lightness. Stillness. There’s plumb, and there’s out-of-plumb.

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Word Said Action Done  - 1990s
Word Said Action Done - 1990s

Oil, encaustic, on wood with old stairway skirt board as mountains in the far distance. The face on the right is from a Giotto fresco of St. Francis. His hammer is traced from a hammer in my collection. The yellow carpenter is looking at us and holding another of my hammers.

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