Written by Liz Kearney

Artist Brad Bunkers believes art should be shared. “I believe we’re all here to share our gifts—whether it’s art or writing, helping people or leadership,” Bunkers said at The Flying Squirrel Gallery, Monday. Bunkers will share his latest artistic expression at a new show opening at the gallery on Friday night, which is the date of the last Livingston Art Walk of the Season.

He calls his show “Transference: Exchanges in Pigment and Ink.” “Transference” is a series of Bunkers’s paintings juxtaposed with poetry written directly on the walls of the gallery.

The poetry and the paintings make up a conceptual show, Bunkers said. The poetry is written by “Todd Kenseth, ” which is part of the concept of the show, which Bunkers prefers not to reveal until the show’s opening.

He would go so far as to identify Kenseth as a pseudonym for a “local unpublished poet,” but beyond that, you’ll just have to show up at the gallery yourself to get the rest of the picture. Bunkers said the poetry and the paintings may be interpreted in juxtaposition to each other. Some of the poetry inspired the paintings, while some of the paintings inspired the poetry.

For example, a number of the paintings depict images of a coffin—small figures with vague faces, outlined to suggest a casket, and a poem contains images of death as well.

But the paintings—and poems—are not meant to be literal interpretations, just loosely based on one another, he said. He never wants to interpret a painting for a viewer. “If anything, I try to confuse people and misdirect them,” he laughed. He prefers not to tell people what they should think or feel about a work. Bunkers thinks art should be a conversation. He likes to watch people viewing his work and interacting with it. “I don’t really care what they think as long as there is some kind of emotional connection and engagement,” he said.

Bunkers believes we all have talents, and they are meant to be shared. “If a masterpiece sits in a closet, is it really a masterpiece? It needs to be out there,”he said. Art is a conversation, Bunkers believes. “It’s all about storytelling,” he said.

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