Patrons take a bite out of the ‘All U Can Eat’ exhibit.
Debbie Allison
Staff Writer
Variety is on the menu at the “All U Can Eat 2010” art exhibit at the Bunny Gunner Gallery in Pomona.
The exhibit, which has been on display since Feb. 13 and is back for its fifth year at the gallery, offers an array of art and aims to provide high quality pieces at affordable prices, ranging from around $25 to $250.
Currently more than 350 pieces of art line the two walls of the gallery with additional pieces scattered throughout the room.
The pieces range from paintings of fruit and photographs of landscapes to wooden sandwiches, mock stuffed animals, and a pink box filled with donuts made out of yarn.
“‘All U Can Eat’ is based on the concept of an art buffet where the pieces are smaller, appetizer sized,” Juan Thorp, owner of the Bunny Gunner Gallery, said. “Because they’re smaller, they’re more affordable.”
This concept makes it easier for people who are new to the idea of collecting art to purchase professional art for a reasonable price.
“I think it’s an affordable way to start collecting,” Fonda Munez, a jewelry store employee and Fontana resident said.
Munez, who said she had little to no prior knowledge about art, found out about the exhibit from one of her customers whose work is on display at the exhibit and stressed that it was a great way to get into collecting art because of the reasonable prices.
And while the exhibit is in its fifth year, it has been different each of the five times.
“It evolved each year,” Thorp said. “This year we asked for less art from more artists.”
Artists were allowed to enter up to five pieces, with a 5” by 7” size limitation.
This made it possible to offer an even wider variety of styles to viewers and customers.
With 101 different artists entering pieces this year, more than ever before.
Artists were able to enter their works by invitation of the owners of the Bunny Gunner Gallery, Thorp and his wife Susie.
“We always want to keep the quality up,” Thorp said.
For this reason the exhibit only features professional artists, people who create art for a living. One such artist is Karen Karlsson of Pomona.
After all of her pieces were purchased in the first two weeks of the exhibit, Karlsson was invited by Thorp to enter more.
Karlsson, who has been doing art seriously for about two years now, entered five monoprints along with some encaustic pieces.
“Instead of painting with acrylic or oil, you paint with hot melted wax,” Karlsson said of the encaustic process.
This was Karlsson’s first time participating in the exhibit.
Another artist featured in the exhibit is Bobby Rojas from Alhambra.
Rojas entered three pieces, all using acrylic on canvas, his preferred surface due to its flat nature.
His inspiration for the pieces came from a book he read recently on propaganda. One of his pieces shows wasps latched onto an electronic device.
Rojas said that the insects in this piece represent society, which has its main colony, and then the workers, which are the everyday people.
The current electronic device represents the way people are able to convey propaganda to the masses easily.
The exhibit will continue through March 9 and is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
from Tuesday to Friday and noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday.
For more information visit www.bunnygunner.com.
Debbie Allison can be reached at deborah.allison@laverne.edu.
