Best Western is pleased to announce Rick Yoshimoto & JB Blunk, a two-person exhibition of work that celebrates the long creative exchange between the two artists. This exhibition is composed of works across media that include bronze, ceramics and wood. From Yoshimoto, a set of double-sided, painterly ceramic plates as well as three new wooden sculptures, two stools and a table, demonstrate the artist’s interest in intuitively finding forms in the material through process while pulling the object away from expectations of function. A selection of historical works from the Estate of JB Blunk spanning  decades will be in conversation with the pieces of Yoshimoto. Works in this show from Blunk: a small ceramic drinking cup with gold embellishments, a bronze candlestick that leans to the surreal, a free-standing redwood tray and an acrylic painting on wood that calls to mind the Point Reyes peninsula. Over the years, spending countless hours in Blunk’s home and studio, Yoshimoto became intimately familiar with these objects. 

The relationship between Yoshimoto and Blunk began in Inverness, CA in 1977 when Yoshimoto was enroute to Canada. What started as a casual meeting evolved into a decades long collaboration and friendship. Their working relationship took shape through numerous large-scale public commissions such as Greens Restaurant, San Francisco, CA, and Menlo Park Caltrans Station, Menlo Park, CA. Contrasting their epic public commissions, Yoshimoto and Blunk would mount biennial community-centered ceramic shows with their final ceramics exhibition in the early 90’s at Dance Palace Community Center in Point Reyes, CA. Rick Yoshimoto & JB Blunk marks the first time that the artists’ work will be shown together since the Dance Palace, as well as the first time Blunk's work will be presented in New Mexico. This will be Yoshimoto’s first two-person exhibition in Santa Fe, NM since relocating to Lamy, NM in 2015.

Rick Yoshimoto was born in Honolulu in December of 1948. His grandparents emigrated from Okinawa to work on plantations on Kauai. He left the islands in 1969 to travel and study art at California State University Long Beach and UC Irvine. After graduate school, he moved to Inverness in coastal northern California in 1977. Shortly after, he began working with the sculptor JB Blunk, first as an assistant, and ultimately as a collaborator. Their friendship and working relationship continued until JB passed away in 2002. Recent exhibitions include Anthony Meier, Mill Valley, CA, Blunk Space, Point Reyes Station, CA and Bolinas Art Museum, Bolinas, CA.  Since 2015, Yoshimoto has lived and worked in Lamy, New Mexico.

Blunk is represented by Blum&Poe (Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo), Kasmin Gallery (New York) and Kate MacGarry (London). His work has been exhibited widely, including a retrospective exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA (2018), and a two-person show with sculptor Alma Allen at the Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA (2018). A major monograph on the artist was published in 2020 by Blunk Books and Dent–De–Leone. Blunk’s work is featured in public collections worldwide, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; M+ Museum, Hong Kong, China; Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY; Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, among others.

Rick Yoshimoto & JB Blunk is on view June 24th through August 5th, 2023. Opening reception from 3:00 to 6:00pm on Saturday, June 24th. Artist Conversation between Rick Yoshimoto and Lucy Lippard on Friday, July 7th at 6:00pm. 

Best Western would like to thank Rick Yoshimoto, Mariah Nielson, Lauren Goodell, Dr. Gina Lutz and Lucy Lippard for their trust and collaboration in the making of Rick Yoshimoto & JB Blunk. 

Best Western hours are Saturdays from 1pm to 4pm and otherwise open by appointment for the run of the exhibition. Please contact Shane Tolbert & James Sterling Pitt by email at office@westernbest.org with questions or to schedule an appointment.

Banner image:
Rick Yoshimoto and JB Blunk working on Station Hill, the 25,000 pound
redwood burl sculpture for Menlo Park Caltrans Station at Lunny Ranch in
Point Reyes, California, 22 April 1987. Photo by Art Rogers.

Photo credit all exhibition images: Brad Trone