Governor's Gallery
Brunel DeBost Faris
Selected Works
January 7 thru March 7, 2008
For more than 40 years, Brunel DeBost Faris was closely involved with the arts in Oklahoma as an artist, teacher and administrator and had a profound influence on the development of Oklahoma’s art heritage up to his death in 2005. Local artists will remember him from his teaching career at Oklahoma City University, and art lovers worldwide know Faris for his works in collage and drawing as demonstrated in this exhibit, Selected Works.
As a practicing artist, Faris worked with pen and ink, silver point, watercolor, oil, acrylic and, particularly, mixed-media collage, for which he used discarded items of daily life. A recurring theme in Faris’ work throughout his career was his interest in the human figure, even in the most abstract form.
His interest in collage was spurred on by his extensive travels to Europe. “I enjoy combining odd materials with traditional painting or drawing techniques. Usually I attempt to develop a general theme in a collage but the message is subconscious. Juxtaposition of old and new, worn and fresh, bright and dull, light and dark, with merging and repeated forms or images are of particular interest to me. I prefer my collages to be games with secret visual puns, a sort of personalized mythology,” explained Faris.
One of his more unique art works is called the Variable that he described as an idea developing out of his earlier collages. “I wanted to do collages that were movable, forms with changeable relationship,” Faris said. “The grid system is more apparent in these works because of the separate units, but it has always been a part of my work,” he added.
Born in Oklahoma City in 1937, he earned his bachelor and masters degrees in Fine Arts from the University of Oklahoma. A founding member of the Oklahoma City Arts Festival, Faris was the chairman of the Art Department at Oklahoma City University and Director of the Nona Jean Hulsey Gallery in OCU’s Norick Art Center. Prior to that position, he served as Art Director of the Oklahoma Science and Art Foundation. In addition to teaching at the college level, Faris taught art in public schools in Tulsa and Oklahoma City as well as Philbrook Art Center. Many of his students have become successful professionals in the fields of arts administration, graphic design, and teaching on a global level.
The Oklahoma State Art Collection contains two of Faris’ works. Strike, a mixed media collage is currently on display in the inaugural exhibition of the State Art Collection Gallery also housed at the State Capitol. Other Faris works have been represented in group exhibitions at the Fred Jones Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma, Norman; Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa; Oklahoma City Museum of Art; William Rockhill Nelson Gallery, Kansas City; Mabee Gerrer Museum, Shawnee; the Melton Collection, University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond; the Tulsa Performing Arts Center; as well as in many private collections in the U.S., Mexico, Israel, German, France and Italy.
Sponsored by the Oklahoma Arts Council. For more information contact Scott Cowan at 405.521.2931 or scott@arts.ok.gov
The Governor's Gallery is located on the 2nd floor of the State Capitol outside the Blue Room and is open Monday through Friday from 8:30-5:00.
Past Governor's Gallery Exhibits