Gallery With A Cause • Located in the New Mexico Cancer Center • Benefitting the NMCC Foundation
Please call gallery director Regina Held to arrange a private gallery tour, make a purchase, or ask any questions.
Biography
John Bumkens, a lifelong New Mexican, is a self-taught recycled-media artist who works with found, scrounged, and collected materials. His art education began in the 1960s, when his father studied art at UNM and his mother pursued an education degree. The family spent countless weekends exploring New Mexico, from Indian dances and rockhounding to museums and art openings. These experiences exposed him to a wide range of art and left a lasting impression. After retiring from a career in offset printing, John began his creative journey. He experimented with jewelry, printmaking, laser printing, and painting before incorporating found objects, including old, rusted ceiling tiles, into his work. John has been creating recycled art for the past twenty years. His process has evolved, but his enthusiasm for collections of ephemera has only grown. He has shown work in shops and galleries, including venues in Madrid, The Old Church show in Corrales, Gallery ABQ, the Albuquerque Open Space Gallery, and the Santa Fe Recycle Festival, where he has exhibited for more than a decade.
Artist Statement
I work with recycled and found objects for the histories they hold—traces of time, place, and the people who once kept or used them. My materials include watch and clock parts, vintage TV tubes, Bakelite pins, buttons, beads, and other collected objects. Through conversations with suppliers, I learn the stories behind these materials and carry them into the work. This process is deeply personal: I collect, seek out, and choose each object myself.
Each piece or art begins with old metal, which I cut, shape, and paint before building its surface with selected embellishments. I am especially drawn to working at 2:00 am. on cold February nights, when the temperature affects the paint in unexpected ways. As I arrange the pieces on the floor, compositions begin to emerge. No two works are alike. Although I have numerous object collections at hand, a small collection can quickly be used up when working on a group or series of pieces. When that happens, I begin again - searching, discovering and gathering the next set of materials.