Welcome to the Bunker Questionnaire, a series in which we ask Bunker Projects residents and exhibiting artists a few questions based on Marcel Proust’s famous Proust Questionnaire, a survey that purported to reveal a person’s true nature. We hope their answers and the accompanying photos allow you to get to know them and their work a little bit more.
Tommy Bruce is an artist based in Portland, Oregon. His work explores the formation of identity in contemporary culture through work with the Furry community. His work has been featured in exhibitions and publications internationally, including Art in America, The Institute for Contemporary Art Philadelphia, Vice, Lenscratch, and ArtForum. He has advocated for the legitimacy and value of the Furry community through public presentations, exhibitions, and programming for more than a decade.
Describe yourself in three words
“Queer Furry Artist”
Who are your favorite artists/the ones who’ve influenced you most?
“Mike Kelley is up there as one of my favorite tortured suburban white boy artists. I love his collaborations with Paul McCarthy as well. Photographically I aspire to make portraits as dynamic and loaded as Deana Lawson does. Catherine Opie’s portraits of her friends and self portraits were a big inspiration to me early on as well.”
What is your idea of happiness?
“Freedom from debt, home ownership, free healthcare–normal stuff that is being robbed from us all. Beyond that, enough room to play around in life and not have my livelihood depend on it.”
What’s your favorite studio ritual or habit?
“I love turning the lights down to dim near the end of a night when I feel alone in the studio. Headphones in with some new album I’m obsessed with. When I can get in this mode I really let my filter drop and can play around with material and thoughts most intuitively.”
What’s the best creative advice you’ve received?
“Separate the making process from the evaluation process. Don’t wait to have a project fully formed before you start making it; the best work changes when it moves from concept to execution. Leave room to be inspired by the process and let the work guide you.”
Photography by Anna Brewer
If you’d like to support Bunker Projects’ mission to provide a safe, equitable space for emerging artists to develop their practice and create new works for exhibition, please consider making a one-time or recurring donation here. We are so grateful for your generosity.
