‘The Reno Portraits’ comes to courthouse gallery

The Capital City Arts Initiative will exhibit “The Reno Portraits” by the late Gus Bundy from Friday through Sept. 5 at the Capital City Arts Initiative Courthouse Gallery, 885 E. Musser St. A reception from 5-7 p.m. Friday will feature the artist’s daughters Molly Bundy-Toral and Tina Bundy Nappe. Jim McCormick will give an informal talk about the exhibition at 5:30 p.m.

According to CCAI:

Bundy was known internationally for his iconic wild horse photographs taken in the early 1950s. For more than 20 years, he also was a prolific painter working with Reno’s Portrait Workshop. The Reno Portraits present a large body of the oil paintings by Bundy that have never been exhibited.

Professor emeritus and longtime friend and colleague Jim McCormick has written the exhibition essay, “Pose Please!” McCormick writes, “Gus Bundy rarely signed his work. Nor was it his practice to record the year of execution, or the models’ names, for that matter — all of which was perfectly consistent with his philosophy that making art was an activity in and of itself, ‘an enriching experience.’ The raison d’etre for his painting had little to do with documentation or commercialization. Bundy seldom priced his work. Sold few paintings. Held most of them in storage.”

The Capital City Arts Initiative’s group exhibition, BRIC Art 3, includes 17 more Bundy paintings from the Portrait Workshop. This show is in the city’s BRIC facility at 108 E. Proctor St. The BRIC is open to the public fro 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The exhibit will be displayed through August.

The Courthouse Gallery is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday though Friday. For more information, go to www.arts-initiative.org.