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Artist Statement
John K. BunkleyThese paintings depict figures in candid vignettes of their everyday lives. I look outward to the lives of my people, elevating their ordinary moments to canvas. Each portrait captures one facet of emotion — frustration, raw strength, tenderness, innocence, solitude — frozen in time. Together, these facets build a picture of community in the viewer's mind. What I observe, and how I react to it, is the most important element of my work. I filter and project my own experience onto the figures I paint. The message is one of the individual: each person's addition to the collective makes it stronger, more able to stand its ground. I focus on the people who make a community — the ones who shouldn't go unnoticed. Press & RecognitionHour Detroit — July 2025
Painting featured as the lead image in "An Ode to Your Platonic Dive Bar" by Mickey Lyons — a tribute to Tom's Tavern, Detroit's quintessential dive bar.
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Detroit Institute of Arts — November 2022
Named alongside Van Gogh in the DIA's Director's Letter by board member Marsha Battle Philpot ("Marsha Music") during the Van Gogh in America exhibition.
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Essay'd — June 2021
Full artist profile by Steve Panton for Essay'd, the Wayne State University-affiliated Detroit arts publication.
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