Flowers: Gary Bukovnik Watercolors and Monotypes

by Gary Bukovnik, Robert Flynn Johnson (Contributor), James J. White (Foreword)

Presents and discusses the work of, and influences on, the artist” – a VERY incomplete and vague description. Please be so kind as to change the description to read what is on the book flap, “Gary Bukovnik's world is filled with iris, narcissus, rhododendron, tulip, bird of paradise all come within his view, and all form subjects for his art. Bukovnik was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1947 and studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art. The internationally acclaimed artist has lived in San Francisco since 1974. His dramatic art conveys a highly monumental and sublime quality. Primarily using the medium of watercolor, Bukovnik fuses sensual vitality with fluid yet powerful colorations, creating floral images of great depth and intensity. In this book, the first published collection of Bukovnik's watercolors and monotypes, flowers take on new meanings; more than simply plants in nature, they become tapestries, exotic garments, and grand embellishments of an artist's imagination. Accompanying the reproduction of Bukovnik's work is a foreword by James J. White, curator of art at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation in an interview with the artist by Robert Flynn Johnson of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco,; and an essay about Bukovnik and the depiction of flowers in art by Judith Gordon, A San Francisco-based writer. It includes 67 illustrations, including 60 plates in full color. Bukovnik’s work is represented in numerous major museum collections, such as the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and his work has been the subject of solo museum and gallery exhibitions in the US, Europe and Far East. His watercolors and monotypes are the subject of a lavishly illustrated book published by Harry N. Abrams, New York in 1990.

Hardcover

First published November 1, 2000

Reviews

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contained a very interesting essay on the process of flower art making. As an artist I found these concepts most notable:
–form
-simplicity
-not hiding the rubber bands
-using simple water glasses as vases
-sometimes including a bit of table reflection but little else
-conveying more than flowers
-blowing some up larger than life
-giving the impression of effortlessness but having the entire painting worked out in one's head beforehand

The paintings within the book showed amazing color and wonderful WONDERFUL drawing ability. I thoroughly enjoyed perusing this book.