Tunnel Vision
Joseph Fontinha + Chris Plunkett
October 28–November 22, 2020
Preview Night: Thursday, November 5, 2020 | 5:00–8:00PM
SoWa First Friday Art Walk: Friday, November 6, 2020 | 5:00–8:00PM
“Tunnel Vision,” features the work of Chris Plunkett and Joseph Fontinha. The exhibition showcases Plunkett’s oil paintings of Fenway Park vendors in action along with Fontinha’s experimental video installations capturing his own actions in the studio. Hustle is the name of the game for both. Art provides a narrative to their busy, everyday lives as fathers, educators, and creators. The exhibited work, at the crossroads of traditional painting and digital media, celebrates the artists’ 15+ year friendship. Their conceptual and stylistic approaches differ, but what Plunkett and Fontinha share is the belief that maintaining an active studio practice requires exquisite tunnel vision—to allow enough time and space for inspiration to take hold. The viewer is richly rewarded in this exhibition; inspiration abounds, having taken shape in both long established and experimental forms.
PRESS RELEASE ➢
PRICE LIST ➢
Joseph Fontinha
Image: video still from the Lakewind Project (detail)
Joseph Fontinha offers a forensic account of his studio practice; he invites the viewer to retrace his steps. His explorations in video, installation and performance work are all residual of painting, but tell a broader story, one that holds the viewer’s attention in a different way. Fontinha exhibits an aerobic, studio-centric, idea-driven, spontaneous and visceral approach to solving visual problems. He explores the relationship between subject matter and the plastic form itself. His work offers truth about his process, and the layering of the work provides a durational mode of viewing and contemplation. Fontinha’s art is at its core about stillness, stamina, discomfort, trust and wonder. It is about truly authentic human experience and what it looks like.
Fontinha was educated as an oil painter at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, MA, Boston University, MA, and Lesley University College of Art and Design, MA. He has since expanded his practice to include video, installation, and performance-based work. He teaches visual art at the high school level and lives on the South Coast, MA, with an artist studio in his home. Fontinha is a Core Member of Fountain Street.
“It Didn’t Matter, We Were Late”
Chris Plunkett
Image: Murph’s Hats (detail)
Chris Plunkett’s vendor series began while he was running up and down stairs during a Red Sox game at Fenway Park, selling hot dogs. He put his bin down and started snapping photos of his fellow vendors. He wanted to capture the humanity inherent in the hustle and grind of this unique part-time job, one that he has held since his teenage years. It is a race against the clock to sell as many hot dogs, peanuts, bottled waters, beers and lemonade as humanly possible during the game. Each vendor is an entrepreneur, with finances at stake for most. Plunkett describes the vendors as “a self-policing unit of sarcastic, witty, competitive, rude, loud, contentious local workers who grind for every dollar earned.” And about his paintings, he says, “This series of work pays homage to these workers and all blue-collar types who physically push their bodies to the limit, not out of greed, but out of necessity.” For this year’s baseball season, because of COVID-19, Plunkett’s paintings are the closest most of us—vendors and fans alike—will get to the sights and sounds of Fenway Park.
Plunkett began oil painting as an undergraduate at Plymouth State University, NH, and has continued his studio practice for over 20 years since. His work merges impressionistic realism with narrative, his subjects true to his life and journey. Chris teaches visual art in grades 4-8 in Roxbury and resides in Dorchester with an artist studio in his home. He is a Core Member of Fountain Street.
