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B Y W I L L I A M M I L L E R

P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y J E N N A P I M E N T E L

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THE WORDS AND WORKS OF ARTIST PETER TUNNEY


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F E A T U R E


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These are the rst words that Peter

Tunney says when I meet him at his studio

in Manhatta ns Tribeca neighborhood. The

immensely successul 49-year-old arti st has

a shock o blond hair and a smooth, boyish

ace that belies his age. His wh ite polo andcargo shorts, which would b e appropriate on

a gol course or at a New England country

club, are splattered with resh paint. Ater

giving an enthusiastic, ast-paced tour o his

canvas-lled studio, Tunney sits down to

talk about his lie and his art.

Aside rom hi s appeara nce, the most

salient thing about Tunney is that he is atalker. In the span o two minutes and 30

words o introduction, he is alr eady in ull

stride, whirling dervish-like rom topic

to topic, spinning connections in elds as

disparate as politics, music, science, history,

the uture o art, his childhoodall at his

characteristically renetic, high-octane

speed. In another typical sentence, Tunney

unsel-consciously rattles o the names

o Picasso, Man Ray, John Nash, Galileo,

Socrates, and Proust. Words seem to rush out

o him in little verbal avalanches o thought.

Two hours into our interview, we have to

stop short because Tunney has exhausted the

battery o my tape recorder.

It is, indeed, rather hard to keep up.For Tunneys latest project, he tells me

that he has been reading the dictionary. He

says that he has noticed that most people

dont know the denition o the words they

toss around. I nd that ninety percent o

dialogue is gibberish. Its so predictable, the

Democrat and Republican intractability.

Theres no boundary, theres no respect.You ever hear o the word amaranthine?

he suddenly asks.

I shake my head.

I saw this word in the dictionary the other

day, and I thought it was pretty cool. The guy

I was sitting with, my accountant, he says

something like, Who would ever use that

word? So I told him, you know what, I would. It

means unading and everlasting. And thats

what I want my art to be. ( Continued on page 62 )

THE TRUTH

ALWAY S HA PP ENS

Original painting, acrylic paint andcollage of mixed media on canvas.48 x 60

WE ARE ALL

STUMBLING

Original painting, acrylicpaint and collage of mixedmedia on canvas.60" x 48

TRY TO KEEP UP WITH ME.


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I WANT TOPUT A TIME-

R EL EAS EBOMB OFPOSITIVITYIN YOURLIVINGROOM.

F E A T U R E


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I you wanted to put a label on Tunneys

art, you could describe it as a unique species

o optimistic Pop ArtWarhol with a

smile. His work is dened by meticulously

hand-painted text over a dizzy ing array o

sourcespastiches o newspaper clippings,

magazine advertisements, suroa rds, or

the detached ender o a car. These messages(The Time Is Always Now, Enough Is

Possible, etc.) are unpretentious, and though

they may seem overly glib to some, they

refect sentiments that, or Tunney, are both

deeply personal and deeply elt. Rather than

negatively critiquing American consumerism

in the vein o most Pop Art, Tunneys work

transcends the mire o mere pessimism and

leaves the viewer with a eeling o hope and

peace, just as the messages in his paintings

seem to overpower the background noise o

newspaper clippings and other media.

He tells me, I want to put this time-release

bomb o positivity in your living room, and

let it aect you and your amily over the next

twenty-ve years, one living room at a time.

As ar a s work is concerned, Tun neys

business is booming. Earlier that day, a

string o collectors had come in or arranged

visits to hi s studio; Tunney accepts visitors

only by appointment. I ask the artist why

his paintings have been selling so quickly.

He attributes it, paradoxically, to the bad

economy. People are tired o being cynical.

Its the old expressionthey are sick and tired

o being sick and tired.Beore becoming an artist, Tunney worked

at an astonishing sequence o jobs. He has

been an immensely successul Wall Street

investor in biotechnology, a stock broker, a

club manager, a car dealer, a movie producer,

and a magician. Now he is a well-regarded and

an accomplished artist in his own right.

The man is brimming with stories: about

how he lived in a 1,000-square-oot art

pad in the middle o the popular Crobar

club in New York City or one year o

debauchery; about his adventures in Arica

wit h world-renow ned pho tog rapher Peter

Beard, and how Beard was once stomped on

by an elephant and lived; about the crazed

antics o the late Hunter S. Thompson;

about winning a gol tournament in Bhutan;

and about celebrating New Years in So

Paolo with Brazilian soccer legend Pel.

Ive had a pretty wild lie, Tunney admits.

Tunney tells me that recently he has been

involved in plans or a billboard project in

New York City. Its called the Gratitude

Project. The idea is that youll be driving

into New York City and instead o seeing a

billboard tryi ng to sell you some kind o caror vodka, itll just say Gratitude, or Remain

Calm, or Today Is the Day. Everything

these days is ast, ast, ast. I think that

people need to slow down sometimes and

appreciate lie, you know?

When asked ab out the contemporary art

scene, Tunney expresses disgust or some

o the newer art. I dont like this kind o

contemporary art w ith string and cereal

boxes. It goes away; its too impermanent. I

like art to say something that will last a long

time. Most people will never throw [one o

my painti ngs] away. You move into a new

apartment, and its like a good riend. Its one

o the ew things that can be a constant in

your lie. Its there or you. It never changes;

it marks the time. Unading and everlasting, I

really like that. Its amaranthine.

PETER TUNNEY

The artist sits at hisdesk in Tunney Art, his

studio and gallery inTribeca, New York City.

TUNNEY MUNNEY

Handpainted oil paintand 23karatgold leaf onhandcrafted hardwood box.22 x 10 x 6

F E A T U R E

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