Soft serve always seemed essential in summers, growing up in the North Bay.
I remember asking my mom to take us to the McDonald’s drive-thru for soft-serve ice cream, which she rarely did. It was so hot outside, my four siblings and I in the back of the Volkswagen Vanagon, burning up in the dry North Bay heat.
Then, getting older, still loving soft serve, oysters became a thing for me to eat. At first I hated them. They just seemed so odd, like pieces of snot trapped in rocks. Why would you want to eat that? But, I thankfully did, and now they’re a mainstay of my summer, just like soft serve. And this month, these ideals of summer are perfectly represented for the public to see at the new show, “Tabletop,” by Oakland-based painter Lucy Stark and Guadalajara-based artist and designer Fabien Cappello.
The show, which opened on Sept. 7, is on display at Blunk Space in Point Reyes Station and was curated by gallery owner and Blunk Estate director Mariah Nielson. It will close on Saturday, Oct. 19.
Featuring largely new works by Stark and newly designed pots and candle holders by Cappello, the show has the appearance of a simple picnic party. At the center of the room, a table is set, draped by a hand screen-printed tablecloth by Stark, along with a Cappello vase full of flowers. Lining the room is the occasional ceramic sconce made and painted by Stark, nestled between new and brightly colored paintings and Cappello’s playful objects.
The works presented by Cappello and Stark were created from inspiration gathered at the Blunk House, the home of the local sculptor and father of Mariah Nielson, JB Blunk. Blunk’s home, much like his work, was made of found wood and materials in and around West Marin during the 1950s and looked out from a ridgeline down to Tomales Bay.
Both Cappello and Stark, at different times, were invited to stay there and work, gathering insight and inspiration from the home itself. The intention was to find avenues in which these artists could mesh their work with the story of Blunk himself, and the creative impact he has had in the area. From the freeformed and redefined perspectives of Stark’s paintings, to the playful shapes of Cappello’s candle holders, some mimicking Blunk’s full-mast stools, the through line is clear without the artists sacrificing any of their own style.
Stark’s paintings over the years have always been captivating, with thoughtful compositions and intricacies. Yet, her work is always willing to let the lines and edges of a brushstroke flow.
From her depictions of cakes made by her sister, Nellie Stark, to the picnic displays on red tablecloths, Stark’s paintings seem perfectly choreographed. Although the shapes are not perfect, they somehow convey an other-worldly, almost dreamlike, state. They are bright paintings full of joy for simple days out—perfect little worlds to escape from our own for a brief moment. A picnic blanket with oysters turns into a recollection of a beautiful and quiet moment with friends. In some ways, they have a slight playfulness which can at times appear like the free-flowing gouache portraits of the author and painter Mairah Kalman.
The colors of Stark’s works as well are almost surreal in how brightly they depict the moments and still-lifes she paints. And while none of these colors truly grasps the drab grays and browns of the Marin coastline or the heavy fog that banks Tomales Bay throughout the year, these colors and these simple images seem to capture so well the ideal of this place. They are depictions of what the Bay Area, what all this place on the best of days, truly feels to us who live here—idyllic.
Cappello’s work, vases, pots and candle holders made of tin and painted in toned-down blues, salmon reds and earthy greens, is in direct conversation with these paintings. Their simple shapes seem to evoke that same reverie as Stark’s for simplicity and the joy of a good moment. Some of the objects are just the forms, the tin left unpainted, Cappello showcasing the beauty of this often underappreciated material. Frequently, his other work is very brightly-colored, inspired by his home in Guadalajara, Mexico, but always his work focuses on the joys of these simple useful objects.
The artists together appear ideally matched. Their love and appreciation for simple tools and moments, joined together, are a perfect pairing and reminder that the everyday can and does hold its own beauty. While they put this work not in contrast with any of the greater happenings and tragedies currently occurring, it’s hard not to feel that the show itself is a pleasant reprieve from all the challenges and struggles that exist just outside the gallery walls, making the Blunk Space gallery an inviting place to visit for quiet days.
It’s fitting the show will be taken down Oct. 19, just when fall will be completely settled into our homes. For it’s hard to look at any of this work, from the soft light fixture of Cappello’s, to the colorful cakes and picnic scenes of Stark’s, and not think of summer. They are all works made for a perfect and simple day out.
From my view, they are the ideal West Marin summer portraits, occasions centered on good food, especially oysters, and simple pleasures. This sort of show in the fall wouldn’t make sense. Staring at these paintings in the middle of fall or winter would only make one wish for the clouds to disappear. These works, I guess I’m trying to say, live in an endless summer, not outside of our world, but within it.
They are not overly idealized either—they are depictions of small moments, the ones each of us have experienced in our lives, but even for their joys, are the hardest to hold onto. Outside of the frame of the canvas, it’s hard to be certain of what might occur. But inside the canvas, it’s clear this is something to be cherished, like a day getting soft serve, staring out at water on a hot day. Just like good summer days growing up in the North Bay.
