Jef Gunn sees art in what he calls “accidents.” If he spills a cup of coffee, he’ll make a print of it. If he’s inspired by cracks in the street, he’ll don knee pads, get out in the middle of traffic and make rubbings of the cracks.
He often embeds these impressions into his encaustic paintings. This ancient technique uses pigments in beeswax. It’s labor intensive. After hours of blow torching and scraping layers of translucent colors, Gunn turns accidents into beauty.
Gunn says his earliest memories are of drawing, which led to a long career of painting and teaching, with exhibitions of his work throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond. His current exhibition “How to Love the World” is on display at the Augen Gallery through Oct. 31. The selected works of the artist may offer a glimpse of an answer.