KEFE

Modern mythologists, plock and tunstall are colorists of a different order.

Their deliberate focus on human and animal form allows for a certain surrealism to the point of abstraction; playing with how far the mind can consider a rendering of the body animal and/or human, even with multiple useful appendages. As we relate to these fantastic or strange bodies, our mind extends to accept them as our own, or as applied to the human condition.

Tunstall creates stylized portraits of female or female-identifying characters and their environments; while Plock’s work centers around slightly more masculine characters. 

The result is a continuing conversation between male and female, man and wife; but also a really strange person with another really strange person; a microcosm of the modern world at large; inhabited by people as they seem, where the paintings function as a mirror of our truest or most fantastic selves, or as we exist in dreams.

Though the work is centered around characters and their worlds, the pair’s techniques and styles continue to evolve.

Through a variety of mediums including acrylic, watercolor, spray paint, ink, gold or silver leaf and collage, Tunstall and Plock create highly detailed works, often character-based paintings, on wood panels. Their exhibits can also include installation, video, or sculptural components.

In San Francisco, the pair’s large scale collaborative exhibitions have been showcased at 111 Minna Gallery, FFDG and Spoke Art. Their work is also represented by SFMOMA Artists Gallery.

Tunstall and Plock were de Young Museum (SF) Artists in Residence and have participated in 2017, 2018, and 2019’s Fog Fair with A16- to benefit SFMOMA, and were recently in residence at The Space Program (San Francisco).

Both are artist partners for Hospitality House’s yearly auction, a 50-year old cornerstone of care for the LGBTQ community and clients in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco.

Additionally, both have been involved in solo and group exhibitions in Tokyo, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, and have participated in exhibitions in Tokyo, Mexico City, London, Paris, and Miami.

Their work is featured in San Francisco’s Michelin-starred restaurant SPQR, a large scale mural at Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous, SF, and at hotel Alcazar and restaurant Cheeky's, located in Palm Springs.

Plock brings a dedicated focus to his work, paired with a wild sense of originality and morphing patterns, which combines contemporary pop culture with the aesthetic of Japanese ukiyo-e woodblocks. 

Plock co-curates the ongoing “BONKERS\Parallel Worlds” international exhibition series with Yoshi 47, featuring select group of Japanese and American artists held in Tokyo, Japan in 2015 and 2018. Plock has created illustrations for Krooked, The Fillmore, Built to Spill, Trick Dog, and Element, and featured at San Francisco’s Robin and A16’s Marunouchi, Tokyo, and San Francisco locations.

Kelly Tunstall was born in 1979 and received her BA from California College of the Arts and Crafts in 2002. In stylized figural works, Tunstall deals with the contrast between a compositional, portrait-like formality and a more casual revelation of method. 

Tunstall was selected by POW! WOW! Hawaii 2018 as a visiting mural artist. Her work is on permanent view in Bay Area restaurants A16, A16 Rockridge and Bar Crudo, and recently worked with Bulleit as a featured artist.