JT BRUNS

This series is an ongoing collaboration between Joel Parsons and JT Bruns.

Found Images, adhesive, Amyl Nitrite, Perfume. 2018

Each work contains found images that have been recomposed several times through collaboration. The resulting collages were then altered using frottage and applications of perfume and liquid “poppers” (amyl nitrite). In sexual and artistic terminology, frottage involves physical/intentional rubbing - the resulting images seek to embody both.  

The work is intended to draw out contours from pleasure and create value propositions through juxtaposing image and scent. Through the gesture of frottage, the desire for the image is unveiled. Through the act of rubbing, the representation within the image “softens” creating an abstraction. The collaboration is a product of a multi-modal and immersive blend of new thoughts and old images, romantic beginnings with obfuscated byproducts.

The temporary environment "Appropriately Honest" was installed in an empty warehouse building in downtown Los Angeles. Previously a thriving garment and textile manufacturing facility, the Maxfield Building had recently been renovated and converted into gentrified loft spaces. The installation was comprised of floating metallic forms which periodically float and sink. Silver and gold sheets extend along each wall, reflecting the atomic setting sun. Inflated balloons and engraved glass set tone to the mood of the space's transition which is both disconnected from it's past and boasting it's new gentrified patina. 

"Circling the Void" was JT Bruns' first solo show which was comprised of large scale installations and several supporting series. The primary focus of the exhibition was on loss, decay, and desire - all of which powerful and inevitable aspects of the human experience. With the belief that our purpose is to connect with others, each work is bred from the separation of two elements that are essential to one another. 

The materials were all gathered from sources that had deemed them used to depletion, unwanted, or unusable - Decaying and unsalable roses, irregular reams of copy paper, and artificial flowers discarded during yearly cemetery maintenance. Threadbare and unraveling, each material shows evidence of its journey, both physical and emotional. They each carry a history with their own ending, which I interrupt to create a new destiny. 

"Silver Field" is a reproducible work consisting of laser engraved glass mirror tiles installed on the floor. 

An army-issued survival tool, the signal mirror, is used to deploy sensations of longing and urgency across various landscapes and environments. "Signaling" is an ongoing series of performances that reflect physical and emotional distance and proximity. The photograph, like the fluttering sun reflecting off the signal mirror, underscores the primal and immediate nature of the body of work - constantly changing yet captured as a raw moment. 

Individual works range in display from single shots to more narrative diptychs and groupings. 

(2011-ongoing)