We are excited to present Electric City, the Bows Gallery Show for May featuring new work from Michael Hoffee and Jon Bafus!
The
Opening Reception will be
Friday May 4th from 6-9PM, and the work will be on display from May 4th-June 1st.
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A Teaser of Jon Bafus's work
Jon Bafus is mostly known in Sacramento for his musical projects–his band The Gentlemen Surfer has played at Bows a couple of times, and he recently toured with Appetite. But what some people may not know is that Bafus is also a talented artist. His work, which often includes geometric shapes and patterns as well as abstract forms, was featured in our 2012 calendar.
You received your B.A. in Technocultural Studies. What prompted you to this area of study?
I was coming up on the end of my second year at Davis, and had already been off and on two times with the music major I was working on for various reasons. The timing was actually pretty serendipitous because I had just heard of this “new program” from a couple of different people, which was loosely tied to the art and music departments, so I went and looked into it immediately. It sounded awesome, and covered many aspects of the arts, which is what I needed more than just music exclusively. The first classes I had were all fascinating, and still in their “beta” versions as a lot of the curriculum was being written as the classes were offered. I think my first class was called “a history of sound in the arts.” I was pretty much sold right then and officially declared it. This was all before they even had their own facilities as a program, so classes were all in random classrooms scattered throughout the campus. It was both weird and fun, and all of the subject matter is both fascinating, and relevant to current technology and culture.
Do you see yourself as a musician before a visual artist? How does your music influence your drawings and paintings?
I do see myself as a musician first and foremost, though visual arts have always played a big part in my life. Actually from an earlier age than music. My mother is a wonderful painter and I was encouraged to make art from day one. My music influences my visual stuff quite a bit, and vice versa ….Both things come from the same place actually, though are materialized using different sets of tools. I have always been really interested in dense and meticulous architectures, as well as pattern based design, and I think these kinds of things are just inherently present in things I make.
Your work usually contains some sort of repetitive lines and shapes. Why?
I have just always been drawn (no pun intended) to certain elements of repetition and pattern building. Sometimes I make things that are based on a certain “subject” but most of the time, especially with painting, I like to just start with a line or even a dot and let the subject build itself. It’s like a puzzle that you create one piece at a time. I also really enjoy being immersed in repetitive process. I have been a very disciplined person my whole life, in many aspects and I think that the element of “repetition” is just ingrained in my being. Maybe not always in the finished product, but it is always underneath.
A Teaser of Jon Bafus's work
Many of your pieces contain eyes, some inside faces and some not. What interests you about the eye?
I don’t know actually, I have just enjoyed drawing eyes forever. I really like interpreting the human face somewhat crudely too. It always looks more pleasing to me than when I try to make it look “realistic.” It’s pretty neat that you can just draw a couple lines, even very poorly but can still tell what it is supposed to be. But as far as eyes go, I guess I just like to draw them, especially the “cube eye” characters that I have been drawing for several years now. I wouldn’t know what to say it represents. Maybe I just liked Ed Templeton’s drawings too much when I was younger. I sure do like drawing cubes.
Who is your favorite artist?
I have seen so much stuff that I really like and so much that I don’t…Trisha introduced me to
[Friedensreich] Hundertwasser‘s work and I really love that stuff. Hoffee is amazing too by the way, my mom has always liked his art so I have been around many of his paintings.
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A Teaser of Michael Hoffee's work
Michael Hoffee is known for his large, expressionistic acrylic paintings and “not so still” still lifes of flowers. His work is full of energy, life and color. Hoffee’s art has been displayed in Warsaw, Poland along with Maciej Hoffman, and most recently in Metz, France along with Francesco Garieri. He and his wife Diane own Gallery Thrift in Placerville, California.
How long have you been painting? Full time 15 years
Can you outline the process you take in creating a painting?
Unroll a bolt of canvas to approximately 213 x 182cm. Staple to my studio wall, as I smooth out the wrinkles the piece comes to me. From the first stroke on whether it be flowers or urban, the piece seems to unfold on its own.
Describe your average day.
We work appx. 60 hours a week at our business to paint 20. That’s the short of it.
You use a broad range of colors in your work. Do you ever find yourself leaning towards a particular color or palette?
The brighter the better.
What inspires your work the most?
Everything I see, hear or smell comes out on the canvas.
A Teaser of Michael Hoffee's work
What is your favorite time of day to work?
For the first 14 years 7:00 to 11:00 nightly. For the last year from 6:00 to 9 or 10 every morning.
I love your work on cardboard. When did you first get the idea to paint on alternative surfaces?
When I got my wife an easel for one Christmas and I painted the box it was in and everyone liked the box better than the easel. The cardboard texture is the best. I like the way the paint goes on it, stays on it or doesn’t.
If you could live during any time, past present or future, when would it be and why?
I would have loved to hang out and swashbuckle with Carrivagio.
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