All images © Bunnie Reiss, shared with permission
For Bunnie Reiss, the studio can take her anywhere. From her art-filled desert home near Joshua Tree, California, to walls in cities around the country, her surroundings transform into her canvas. “I want to be the sort of artist that gives people something to look at for free and make it accessible,” she tells Colossal. From murals to paintings to moving sculptures, she takes a prolific approach, constantly experimenting with different media.
Reiss is known for her colorful, cosmic characters with an emphasis on patterns and a symbiosis between wild animals, botanicals, and people. An ongoing series of hand-painted leather gloves features embellished eye motifs, symmetry, and sacred geometry. Spreading feelings of positivity and creativity out into the world is central to Reiss’ approach, especially through the medium of public art. “When you put your energy into one thing, it’ll work,” she says. “You have to trust that we are electrical beings, and if you’re dumping all of your energy into something, it will work.”
Pushing her skills into new territory, Reiss recently completed a 500-square-foot mosaic mural and a sculpture of a giant rabbit leaping over a rooftop, constructed on the chassis of a truck. “I kept thinking of this constellation called Lepus,” Reiss says of the piece titled “The Sky Rabbit’s House,” which she completed in collaboration with a team of fabricators. “It’s a winter constellation, and I can see it from my porch. It’s a moving sculpture on a street-legal car—I love cars, so that was really important to me—and it was made for people to fall in love. There’s a cavity for people to sit in, and it’s a place for connectivity.”
Reiss is currently working on illustrations for a children’s book and organizing a monograph, highlighting work she has made over the past ten years. You can explore much more of the artist’s work on her website, and follow updates on Instagram.
“Magic Buffalo,” Buffalo, New York. Image courtesy of Albright-Knox Museum Public Arts Initiative, Buffalo, New York
“The Sky Rabbit’s House.” Photo by Duncan Rawlinson
Carbondale, Colorado. Image courtesy of Carbondale Public Arts Program, Carbondale, Colorado
El Segundo, California. Commissioned by the El Segundo Arts Council
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Source: Art - thisiscolossal.com
