Untitled 1969

This untitled piece was made by George Bunker, most likely in 1969, using pastel on paper. Look at the surface! It’s alive with scratches and scribbles. It is so apparent that the artist went over and over it with different colors, and then the paper shows through again. The colors in this piece are so evocative. There's a kind of electric, vibrating quality created by the blues, greens and pinks. In the bottom-left corner, there’s a furious patch of green that almost feels like it's crawling off the page. I find myself drawn to this area, the contrast of the cool green with the browns and reds is quite jarring. There is a sense of the work in process, a testament to the artist’s touch and the immediacy of the medium. It’s as if Bunker is having a conversation, or maybe even an argument, with the piece. This reminds me a bit of Cy Twombly and his scribbled surfaces, a similar sense of mark-making, yet still very different in its effect. Ultimately, this piece feels like an invitation to get lost in a world of textures and colors.