Grandpa’s Life: Cozy and Melancholic Paintings by Gary Bunt

Gary Bunt is a British artist who paints the life of a simple English grandfather. This grandfather works on a farm, takes walks, and occasionally picks at the garage – that’s how he lives.

Bunt’s paintings are cozy, though somewhat sad – a kind of nostalgia for something unfulfilled.

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Gary Bunt is a self-taught British artist known for his paintings of the English suburbs and countryside. Employing sensitive color and well-designed compositions, the artist’s scene of dogs, farmers, and landscapes have a straightforward sophistication reminiscent of the earlier British artist Christopher Wood. Also a poet, many of his poems accompany individual paintings.

“The poems with the paintings evolved after a serious illness, during which I spent hours reminiscing,” he explained. “Upon returning to my easel, when I was well enough, I wrote small verses to accompany each painting. I turned to the Gospels during this period of illness, and they gave me immense strength.”

Born in 1957 in East Peckham, United Kingdom, he worked as a farm laborer and later a builder before taking up painting during his mid-20s. Struggling with illness through his adult life, led Bunt to Christianity, which he regularly cites as an integral part of his practice. In his 2016 show “By The Grace of God” at Portland Gallery in London, Bunt reinterpreted Biblical scenes by setting them within the context of contemporary British society. The artist lives and works in Tonbridge, United Kingdom.