Study for "Garden Motif" c. 1963

George Bunker’s “Study for ‘Garden Motif’” is a collage and pastel piece. It's like a playground of colour and form. I love how Bunker layers pastel strokes with cut-out paper shapes, a process of building and arranging. You can see how the greens and blues in the piece speak to each other, as though in conversation, each influencing the other’s tone and volume. The textural contrast between the waxy softness of the pastel and the flatness of the paper adds another layer of depth. The overall feeling is one of immediacy, like a fleeting glimpse of a vibrant garden. The scribbled lines capture a sense of movement and energy, which reminds me a little of Joan Mitchell. With Mitchell, as with Bunker, it's not about depicting something literally, but about capturing the feeling of being in the world, of being immersed in a sensory experience. Ultimately, it's this embrace of ambiguity that makes art so compelling.