Cynthia Von Buhler - Fine Art Career

Fine Art Career

In August 2001 she held an event at Castle von Buhler dubbed “The Great Purge” where she sold off most of her possessions. Von Buhler separated from Adam Buhler and moved to a 4,500-square-foot (420 m2) artist loft in New York City's Meatpacking district. Farewell articles were published in The Boston Globe, The Improper Bostonian and The Boston Phoenix citing her as producing “some of the most sensuous, humorous, ridiculous, outlandish, and inspired art and entertainment in Boston.” At this point von Buhler began utilizing unconventional media in her art: video projection, living fauna, found objects, human detritus, and electronic audio. By combining these media, often enhanced with text and electronics, von Buhler's canvasses frequently became kinetic installations. "Regardless of medium, all of von Buhler's pieces require the viewer to get involved: sometimes physically, by feeding a caged animal or inserting a coin to operate a machine. For example, "Sir Repetitious," a man's transparent insides reveal two live rats, hungry for the food and attention of onlookers – feed the rodents with the supplied seed, and you are satisfying "Sir Repetitious" on physical and metaphorical levels. Miss Ann Thrope is a life-sized painting of a woman with two doves perched inside. When the birds move in the piece, they change its equilibrium and alter its intended meaning. A velvet-curtained puppet theater sets the stage for Show and Tell, a multimedia painting that explores the use of word versus action with hidden visual and auditory messages. "Please Don’t Look Up My Skirt" is a commentary on date-rape in which a Botticelli-esque girl without arms or legs tries modestly to cover herself, imploring the viewer not to violate her; those who disregard the plea see what they have become when they look up her skirt. Cynth-O-Matic offers various plastic capsules containing actual samples of the artist’s body hair and fluids from a vending machine. The piece is von Buhler’s critique of those who attend art openings to chat with the artist and scarf hors d’oeuvres without buying any art. For only 25 cents they can buy a piece of the artist. Von Buhler's work provides commentary on morality, vanity, politics, and the art world itself". From 2001 - 2007, von Buhler’s work appeared on the covers of New York’s Gallery Guide, Communication Arts, Step by Step Graphics, and NY Arts. A photograph of von Buhler taken at her New York loft for The Boston Globe was enlarged and used on billboards advertising the publication. Inspired by lying politicians, von Buhler altered and old carnival machine for “Shake Hands With Uncle Sam.” For 25 cents, viewers shake Uncle Sam’s hand, the dial spins, and lands on audio samples of "Weapons of Mass Destruction," "Iran Contra," "No New Taxes," or one of seven other bipartisan audio clips. The piece was created for “The Presidency” exhibit at Exit Art in Manhattan. In 2005, von Buhler created a video for another exhibit at Exit Art, “The Studio Visit”. Her video was singled out by New York Times art critic Roberta Smith as one of the best. She also was chosen by the art space to move her art studio to the gallery for a few months where she had to create her work in the window while people watched her through Exit Art’s windows. Her fine art appeared on TV in Law & Order SVU as the artwork of a serial killer, and in a fight scene of the show Kidnapped. In March 2006, Art & Antiques named von Buhler as “one of the top contemporary surrealists.” However, she has also been linked to the Lowbrow, and Fluxus movements. Her art has been displayed in galleries and museums around the world, and her work is in the collections of Howard Stern, Jann Wenner, The Nassau County Museum of Art, The Staten Island Museum, The University of Toronto, The Opera Company of Philadelphia, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and hundreds of personal collections.