Shoreline, Baker Island 1961

George Bunker made this print, Shoreline, Baker Island, likely in the 1960s, using serigraphy. I can almost feel Bunker figuring out how to translate what he saw onto a flat surface, block by block, layer by layer. He works with a soft palette: muted lavenders, ochres, and pale blues. Look closely, and you'll notice how the colors don't quite match the forms, creating a delightful sense of tension and visual interest. He’s really thinking about the interplay between color and shape and how they can suggest depth and distance. There’s a gestural quality too, a sense of the artist's hand at play. That red scribble, could that be a boat? Or a flash of pure emotion? Who knows! Maybe Bunker was looking at Diebenkorn's landscape paintings at the time or Milton Avery's simplified forms. Painters are always having a conversation with each other, borrowing and riffing off each other's ideas, across time. It’s all just one big, messy, beautiful conversation, and Bunker's print is another voice in the chorus.