Jack Unruh

I discovered Jack Unruh in a book Jo lent me for a different project, after looking at his animal work it could really influence my personal project. His work seems to be mixed media, certainly containing pen, the colour is so vibrant and strong I wonder if it is ink rather than paint. A lot of his work is in this unusual long thin format which makes it more interesting than the over used A4 and A3.
The fine detail on the bear’s head contrasts with the lack of any texture or colour along its back .If the entire image was filled with such tiny detail it would lose its impact and feel a little unnecessary. The detail is only on the most important aspects of the image: the subject (bear), the object (salmon) and some context. The reds of the salmon and the yellow of the sunset really pop, whereas the blues and greens of the river are much cooler and calmer. Although there is almost every colour from the spectrum on one piece they aren’t fighting for your attention because of the limited amount. Your eye is immediately drawn to the whole salmon on the right, then to the parts of salmon on the left, then it gets dragged over to the orange yellow sunset, only then is it allowed to wander freely over the darker areas.
The image is very serene, it’s as though the artist has sat there for hours watching the bear feeding. Even if he has observed the animal in the wild (which a doubt because Grizzly’s are scary) it is hard to portray such a big strong animal as a delicate diner. You can almost hear the bird song in the background.
Unruh’s art will definitely affect my work in the future and my personal project in particular. I am a big fan of the ‘half finished’ look, I keep finding artists which have this style but find it really difficult to resist the urge to ‘colour in’ my own work. It is also influencing my to use an ink pen again, I went through a phase of using one years ago but a lot has changed since then, it would be interesting to give it another go with my current knowledge and attitude towards my own work. I have never really used coloured inks before, but looking at art like this I definitely want to try.