Editor’s Pick

“Nestled in the heart of downtown Point Reyes, the ever-lovely Blunk Space is an artful extension of the artist’s handmade home, currently exhibiting work by Daichiro Shinjo and Jonathan Cross.

Shinjo is based in Okinawa, Japan, and Cross in Wonder Valley, California. They both take direct inspiration from JB Blunk and the very land in which he crafted his house and much of the modernist atavism of his gorgeous wood carvings and shapely clay forms. Made on the literal grounds of Blunk’s homestead, these large paper works hold the impression of the warm Inverness dirt, a mold of the piece’s own birth. The paper curls around stark black, deliberate brushstrokes and dries before being forever mounted to canvas. 

Daichiro’s muted tangerine sun in the center of the room casts the shadow that is Jonathan Cross’s ceramic pieces lining a piece of wood that feels like it organically emerged from the gallery floor. And in some ways, they did. Cross harvested clay from the same grounds that JB once scavenged for his own pieces. Shinjo’s round shapes perfectly complement the angular shapes of Cross ceramic vessels and furniture. All three artists work intuitively, but also with a deep, profound knowledge of material. It's only when one has this level of sapience that works can be produced from single gestures or the unpredictability of firing unfamiliar types of clay. These contemporary artists infuse their backgrounds and cultures with that of the legacy of JB Blunk, yielding a harmonious collaboration.”

-Janie Perez-Radler

About the Exhibition

Blunk Space is pleased to present Daichiro Shinjo and Jonathan Cross, an exhibition bringing together new ink paintings by Okinawa-based Shinjo and new ceramic works by Wonder Valley-based Cross. Through the gestural marks of Shinjo’s brush and the fire-formed shapes of Cross’s clay, both artists engage in a shared conversation with the legacy of JB Blunk—bridging geographies and generations through material, form, and process.