San Luis Obispo, California Dec 3, 2024 (Issuewire.com) - Just Looking Gallery will host a live painting demonstration and art exhibit by Chopstick Drip Painter Peter G. Buchan on December 7, 1 pm - 4 pm, providing the public with a unique, behind-the-scenes opportunity to experience a creative process that took the artist more than 20 years to develop.
“I will be using chopsticks to drip paint on wood to complete the seascapes of Morro Bay I started this year,” Buchan said.
As an established artist, Buchan moved to Central California about 10 years ago where he took up residence in Kernville, a small mountain village bisected by the mighty Kern River. Subsequently, his career came to a grinding halt during Covid 19 as the artist struggled to survive the pandemic.
“Covid nearly tanked the art industry, so during this period, I was an artistic, mountainous nomad, creating voluminous paintings, but with nowhere to show them,” Buchan said.
Although the solitude of living in the mountains offered a productive working environment, meaningful business opportunities for established artists were few and far between in the rural community — and that was before Covid, Buchan explained.
“Living here, I have been inspired by nature's palette of the Sequoia trees and the river," Buchan said. "But what the mountains provide in wonderment they can't supply in culture, so my partner and I have always had to travel many miles to market my work.”
Once the pandemic subsided, Buchan and his wife/business partner resumed road trips to find artisan communities. Subsequently, they discovered Just Looking Gallery, one of the few studios in the region that successfully weathered the pandemic.
“The gallery has been in the community for 40 years, demonstrating that they have the fortitude to withstand the ups and downs of the art world,” Buchan said. “Owner Ralph Gorton has warmly welcomed us to California's central coast. Visiting the area has prompted me to drip waves instead of trees."
Buchan calls his painting process “a system of gravity and imperfection.” Like a conductor composing music, Buchan synchronizes what he intends to create while the paint drips off the chopstick. Considered a form of action painting, the technique requires Buchan to assert control over a medium with a high random tendency.
Critics have described his works as seminal — fusion art that channels the chaos of Jackson Pollock’s action painting with the graceful, figurative imagery of Bob Ross. Buchan looks forward to demonstrating his works with the public at the live art demonstration.
Media Contact
BUCHANART/Marsinah Ramirez Buchan CHOPSTICKDRIP@BUCHANART.COM 7603031861 PO Box 1183 http://www.buchanart.com
