With her larger than life paintings of our most common animal companions Gabriele Bungardt asks us to look at the deep and intimate bond between person and pet. Painting her subjects from photographs and memory, Bungardt draws on her life-long love affair with our furry family members. As she replicates a gaze, we are drawn into that elusive moment of contact across the species.
Gabriele Bungardt is a Bay Area artist. Her studio is located in Alameda, CA. She is well known throughout the Bay Area as well as throughout the United States and Europe for her contemporary portraits of our four legged family members.
Bungardt grew up in Germany with dogs - lots of them. Her father trained hunting dogs and owned many wirehaired dachshunds and German pointers over the years. After a successful career as an Industrial Designer in the Bay Area, Bungardt decided to go back to her roots and combine her two passions - painting and pets.
Gabriele moves between larger than life size portrait commissions to more abstract story telling pieces that relate the canine world in a unique and compelling way. She uses multi layered applications of acrylic paint or water color to achieve depth and three-dimensionality.
Currently, Gabriele lives with her 14 year old Shih Tzu-Poodle mix ‘Krümel’ who is a great sport and a wonderful companion. (Krümel is German for little morsel or cookie monster as she is frequently called).