Gary Bukovnik, the author of Rosarium Collection Motifs
Gary Bukovnik has devoted his life to flowers: he developed an extraordinary universal visual language in which floral images speak to us with directness and beauty and invite us into the depths of our experience, radiating kindness, gratitude, and joy. Few artists paint roses: they carry overpowering symbolism, and—as people say—it is difficult to surpass the beauty of the bloom; Gary Bukovnik began painting roses in his seventies.
Gary Bukovnik was born in 1947 in Cleveland,Ohio. As he says, his Slovenian family instilled in him a love of beauty and emphasized heritage. Originally the Bukovnik family was from Šenčur, outside of Ljubljana on his Grandfather’s side and his Grandmother’s family was from Žužemberk and emigrated in about 1900. The feeling of being Slovenian has always been with him in ways that can be seen and also ways hidden in the heart. He proudly claims this background as being the primal force in his life.
Bukovnik has always had a love of Flowers and painted them since he was four years old. Living with his Grandmother behind her General store in Painesville, Ohio just 35 miles to the east of Cleveland, their home was surrounded by nursery land where flowers were commercially grown for sale around the eastern part of the United States. Most artists choose their subject matter with which to express themselves but in his case, Gary says, it was the subject that chose the artist even at that early age.
Bukovnik’s watercolor paintings have been exhibited at at world-renowned galleries and museums across the United States, including the MoMA, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Art Institute of Chicago, so as in Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia , New Zealand and most recently China and Slovenia. (For the whole list please visit www.garybukovnik.com.)
We are very proud that Gary Bukovnik accepted to cooperate in Rosarium project. Working with Gary over the past nine months has been an immeasurable gift: he is an exceptional person, warm-hearted, with the sensitivity of an artist visible in every stroke, every brush, and his life.
Written by: Lidija Drobež
“From the very first, Lidija’s suggestion about my art being translated into something of silk I became excited. Then after a short period as I was thinking and pondering, I could see the possibilities of the brilliance and flowing nature capable of making static paintings ‘live’ in a medium of light and suppleness. Like a dream of color translated into feather light luxury.
I was so enthused that even though only one painting was called for I instead made five. The images flowed from mind to hand to paper as if by magic. I was, and am, so excited.
Many years ago the great artist Paul Cezanne had said he felt it was the artist’s duty, obligation to create works of art which would be part of the daily life of people. I thought about this and have throughout my career tried hard to follow this thought to make something beautiful, a work of art, which can affect the mind, heart and life of a person by its inclusion in daily activities.
Rosarium, this wonderful silk project is, for me, the penultimate expression of that thought. Beautifully crafted and conceived, and of highest quality, it is a privilege for me to have had the opportunity to be participating in such a wonderful and wonderfully conceived event.
For me it combines two very important things. It combines my love of flowers and also a chance to show my Slovenian heritage. The paintings from which these works of art have been made are not merely paintings of Roses. They are paintings of my heart and soul. “
Gary Bukovnik, the author
