Ventura, CA — June 24, 2010 — Chuck Trunks' Precision Abstracts is featured in Claudia Pardo McFadyen's "Creative Types" column in the Ventura County Reporter Magazine:Don’t order the lobster
When it comes to the business of art, Trunks tackles it with the same precision as his line renderings. He is refreshingly unapologetic about making a lucrative career in art, and draws a clear working ethic for himself and for those he associates with. Trunks expects only the utmost respect from business partnerships. “It’s like the first date,” he explains. “She’s 20 minutes late, but you give her the benefit of the doubt. But then if she takes her phone out, orders the lobster — well, that benefit is lost. Same in business — if you tell me that you’ve sent the contract and it’s not true, well, you’re ordering the lobster.”
No shortcut to quality
Each painting takes at least five weeks to complete. Trunks enjoys the subtle deception they lend as they appear to be computer generated. “I like it when people discover that they’re entirely hand-painted,” he says. The work requires closer inspection to reveal the evidence of the artist’s hand. The exultant acrylic and ink paintings burst with intense color and elaborate compositions yet are contained by the precision of his lines. “I like it neat,” offers Trunks. Comparable to comic book imagery, Trunks’ harlequin pictorials begin with a black and white “skeleton” of hand-rendered yet surprisingly meticulous lines. “I think of color afterwards,”
Weird science
Trunks spent most of his scientific career at Amgen. “I was an OK scientist,” he confesses about his career in the biotech industry. During a 20-year period in the corporate world, Trunks’ extremely analytical understanding of science became a key element for his transition into the art world. Trunks utilized his own graphics as a means to translate his clear understating of scientific law into visual interpretations easily readable by the business executives he worked with. Thus, he became the connection between science and business through imagery.
Giclée is OK
Delving in all aspects of art promotion, marketing and licensing, Trunks treats his art as serious business. “I approach this business with confidence, with the wish to create a partnership,” he says. He uses the same systematic approach with his appointment book that he does with his painting technique, and rejects the romanticized notion of the starving artist by capitalizing on the reproduction and licensing of his original paintings.
Luck of the draw
The quote from Thomas Jefferson, “The harder I work, the more luck I have,” unequivocally rings true in Trunks’ case, as serendipitous experiences and lucky encounters lead not only to solid opportunities for exposure and growth, but to continuous bouts of inspiration and encouragement. Unintentionally holding a 20-minute conversation with iconic American pop artist Peter Max or swimming in a pool, on a cruise ship, covered with the work of Brazilian-born artist Romero Britto — both of whom share Trunks’ uplifting imagery, bold compositions and use of vibrant colors — would certainly be attributed to luck by many. But Trunks is deeply conscious that this serendipity is accompanied by methodical and consistent hard work.
To read more stories from Claudia Pardo McFadyen, please visit www.vcreporter.com.
To see more of my work, please visit my website at www.chucktrunks.com.
