4 X MCH
Bonifacho’s canvases are graphic renderings of symbols which are often painted in highly contrasting colours, using layers of rich, textured oil paint with a luminous surface. Bonifacho's canvases have finished, painted sides and are on stretched canvas.
BLACKBOARDS SERIES
1978 -1983
In this series Bonifacho is clear in conversation about his general concerns. He was not pleased then nor is he now by the meaningless, sometimes purely mathematical measures by which success is judged in the North American culture; by the rat race, the arms race, and the space race; by the controlling affect of mechanisms over living things; by humankind’s wanton destructiveness; by our willingness to pollute precious resources like water and our bodies with harmful chemicals… Where the canvas includes American flags, upside down or not, Bonifacho is alluding to the American desire to rule the world…
Although these are all things that trouble the artist now, it was the prospect of US imperialism that fueled the evocative (and provocative) images of the Blackboards series. 4 x MCH (a bit of mathematical nonsense) does not explain the scene where two greyhounds appear to race in panic towards us, one in a futile effort to evade its implied destruction by the sniper’s bullet that will speed with the assistance of a rifle’s target scope directly into the animal’s heart, nor does it suggest why there are three American flags unfurled in the distance…
Bonifacho confronts the spectator with a sour, apparently deadly portrayal of the American Dream.
By being very strong in imagery and very open about its possible meaning, the metaphors that Bonifacho made years ago have accrued increasing significance over time. – Ann Rosenberg, 2006
