Western Art News
Wooden Whimsies
Bob Wakefi eld’s forthcoming show at Dennis June Gallery highlights a
selection of newly fi nished carvings the artist has been working on for years.
A
n upcoming exhibition
at Dennis June Gallery
in Scottsdale, Arizona,
will showcase the latest body
of work by woodcarver Bob
Wakefi eld, whose hand-painted
highly illustrative scenes make a
playful splash in the Western art
world. Wakefi eld, who has a long
history with Dennis June Gallery
going all the way back to the
artist’s childhood, crafts a variety
of stylized wooden subjects,
including horses, cowboys,
prospectors and hunting dogs.
The exhibition, which runs
from March 7 to April 27, will
showcase up to 20 works, most
of which are sets comprising at
least two subjects. “It’s kind of
a selection of pieces I’ve been
working on over many years.
I don’t do one piece at a time—
I work on dozens at a time.
They’re mostly caricatures...
cowboys or Indians with dogs
or animals...they’re funny and
whimsical,” says Wakefi eld.
Among these are Saturday
Night Bath, in which a pajama-
clad cowboy gives his sullen
hound dog a bath in the
archetypal tin bucket;
Prospector & Burro,
featuring a gray-haired
prospector leading his
donkey companion; and
Saturday Night Dance, a
dynamic scene of a fi ddler and
a woman dancing beside him.
His newest work is Campfi re
Stories, depicting a man jovially
reading from a storybook circled
around a campfi re with his
two canines.Bob Wakefi eld, Prospector & Burro, wood carving, 7 x 10 x 6"Bob Wakefi eld, Saturday Night Bath,
wood carving, 6½ x 8 x 8"Bob Wakefi eld, Campfi re Stories,
wood carving, 11 x 11 x 9"