Chene Street Installation 3, Day 1

Theatre Bizarre

On Saturday, October 24, Ben and Jane went to a wild Halloween party- Theatre Bizarre. (theatrebizarre.com- check it out!)

Workin'... (a halfway point of sorts)

The girls are making more cakes... They've decided to remove the cakes that were destroyed in the second storefront (Chene & Palmer, Van Dyke's Pastry Shop, Chene Street Installation 2, Day 1), as well as the surviving cakes from the first storefront (Chene & Pierce, Taylor Dry Cleaning; these cakes have remained intact since the last visit- Chene Street Installation 1, Day 4) and reinstalling the two storefronts, in one day, with some funky cakes (see A Cake-A-Licious Occassion: An Invitation)... Here are some:

On November 6th there will be a group show at 555, where the girls will be displaying all surviving cakes... Thursday, November 12th will be the closing reception. 

Meanwhile, the three are lonely, so Ben is making some friends.

just kidding. He's making his characters, preparing for the photo shoots... and looking very Parisian:

We've also moved out of Erin & Monte's and are living in the studio now, trying to cut down on cold bike rides and lost time in the studio. Now we can work wherever, whenever, and forever!!! 

Night At The Yes Farm

Last Saturday, the Yes Farm had a show. We three painted on the walls. It was great fun.
Thanks Yes Farm.
Thanks Wigwam.
Thanks Two-Prong...*
*(they changed their name to Brain Storm halfway through the show...)

The flyer for the show. Poster design by Blake...

Our installation...

...(at a later point, inside that orange box would read: "  maybe. " )...

... with Blake in the doorway.

I moved. Jane didn't. Krysta was somewhere else...

Then there were bands:

The first Wigwam performance, ever. She's (Barbara Schauwecker), once from Brooklyn. He's (Tom Hohmann)  from Michigan. They did solo projects all over the country. Now, they've come together in Clinton, MI, to form Wigwam. Check out their solo projects. She's animental. He's BlackElfSpeaks (he's also The USA is a Monster, but I couldn't find a real nice link to that... google it.) 

www.myspace.com/animentaltheband

www.myspace.com/blackelfspeaks

Two-Prong played, as the audience stayed close to the wood burning stove. Two-Prong is the monicker of Eli Winograd (left, guitar and vocals). For this tour he is being backed by drummer Will Berney (of Horsespirit Penetrates from Northampton, MA) and bassist Scott Rideout (of Genesis Climber from Oakland, CA). Good music. Good people. 

www.myspace.com/2prong

www.myspace.com/horsespiritpenetrates
www.genesisclimber.org

A Cake-A-Licious Occassion: An Invitation

They're at it again. And this time, there's gonna be more. Come one, come all...

A Proposal

...and some tests.

The city of Detroit is a collision of histories and presents. Its recent desperate and abandoned façade is as real as the soul and exuberance its history holds. To the outsider, the abandoned buildings and empty lots tell a certain story, but once the top layer is scratched, a whole new Detroit is revealed. I hope to conduct a project based around this layering of collisions that, when viewed, can help to peel away that top layer (or perhaps just flatten it) and let the stories of the past live again. I am proposing a short film, a documentary of sorts, which uses drawings as characters and the current Detroit streets as the backdrop and soundtrack.

  The figures will be made out of a durable material, such as wood or cardboard. Drawn on and cut out, these characters will stand upright; their poses, costumes and expressions will be determined by the location they will be placed in. They will be drawn in a simple, black and white line, humorous way. Abandoned buildings, empty streets, and deserted lots will once again host the people and tell the stories now seemingly forgotten.

  The figures will be filmed in real time, allowing their lifeless, stiff postures to combine with the movement of a live city. Their distances apart, however, will be calculated to be in direct correlation with their actual size; the intended effect is that the space that they sit in, once photographed, will flatten- or perhaps be given depth. Regardless, the perspective will be awkward and the image, hopefully, will be jarring. Once these scenes are edited together and combined with sounds of the city, it is my hope that a simple film, telling the simple story of a complicated city, will emerge. 

-Ben Bunk (September 2009)

Take the Time (to color outside the lines)

Created in a style reminiscent of a children’s coloring book, this 85 foot long drawing depicts every building seen along my seven-mile bike ride through Detroit, from my east side home to my Michigan avenue studio space (555). In its stylized crooked lines and tight details the city is abstracted, yet still familiar, becoming funny and friendly and thus invites a closer viewing, without the usual distractions and intimidations of a harsh reality (as the drawing is absent of cars, people and trash), at a city in need of some attention. Notice the short expanses of inhabited housing followed immediately by uninhabited housing, all intermixed with uninhabitable housing inhabited, and even the empty lots, once inhabited, sprinkled throughout. In a country where cities (such as Detroit) can be devastated and deserted, then quietly sold off, perhaps the previous methods of community and city development have grown stale and, quite possibly, malignant. The title, then, (coming from the oft-said phrase of early education teachers towards their students, “color inside the lines,” and the punishing of some for thinking “outside the box”), refers not just to the beautifying act of coloring, but ignites a plea to question the inane and constipated methods of community development certain American cities have allowed. Enjoy the drawing and please, do take your time… there’s lots of room outside all these lines.

-Ben Bunk, October 6, 2009

The completed drawing spans 85 feet, taking up three rolls of 90 lbs paper, ran out 4 Micron 01 pens, and using hundreds of reference photographs. It was installed with found piping and cables. Special thanks to 555, Carl, David, Drew, Jane and Krysta for their help with installation.

ATTENTION! If you're interested in purchasing a limited edition coloring book of the final drawing, contact Ben Bunk for pricing and shipping information... bunkhead85@gmail.com

Art Detroit Now!

Last weekend was the annual Art Detroit Now Gallery crawl, and the drawing Ben had been working on was installed in the 555 gallery. The drawing ended up being 85 feet, taking up three rolls of paper, four Micron 01 pens, hundreds of photographs and memory power, and lots of patience...