(Above, Top-Bottom: Creature sculptures at Creature Camp, Ashland City, TN, 2020 to present, photo credit Monica Murray, Even more creature sculptures at Creature Camp, Ashland City, TN, 2020 to present, photo credit Monica Murray, “Pink Polycephalupagus”, in studio at Soft Junk, Nashville, TN, 2022, photo by Monica Murray)
Since 2018, Hunter has been making work for Bonnaroo, the annual music festival held in Tennessee. “That kind of kickstarted a lot of experimentation, making the sculptures moveable, but still heavy enough to not blow away or be carried away by party people,” he says. In 2023, he transformed a campground barn into Big Pink, the large, wide-eyed face of a horned creature. Guests entered through the mouth.
“It’s a really cool way to share artwork. It’s not pretentious in any way. It’s outside. People are opening, expanding their minds and things,” Hunter says with a laugh, “and open in a way that they’re not in a white room, or in a museum, or at home.”
Hunter’s 2022 installation Grief Truck, which he made as a visiting artist at Franconia Sculpture Park in Minnesota, uses scatological humor to talk about letting go of grief. Made of papercrete, foam and paint, a pink pickup truck is piled high with a green mound of crap covered in sad faces. Nearby, a grinning, purple creature is caught mid-poop, and a blue woman is ready to shovel away the dump.
“I think it has connected with a lot of people,” Hunter says. “There have been a few complaints with people being, like, ‘this is gross,’ or whatever, but I feel like that’s probably a good thing. I feel like a sculpture should make a few people mad.”
A year later, he followed up Grief Truck with Joyride for Nashville’s Artville Visual Arts Festival. A Dodge pickup truck painted white with black polka dots, Joyride also features sculpted happy faces on the hubcaps and bumper grille, as well as a pile of smiles on the truck bed. The car is functional too. Hunter took it out for Bonnaroo’s Pride Parade in 2024 and, since the sculpted pieces are removable, he can drive it outside of art events as well.
Perhaps the most interactive of Hunter’s installations, though, is the campsite on his property. Hunter refurbished a 1960s Shasta camper, built and painted an outhouse and outdoor shower, and then filled the space with creature sculptures. The menagerie includes some leftovers from Bonnaroo, as well as ones that are site-specific. He’ll rearrange the sculptures when necessary and add new pieces when those on display have sold.
“IT’S NOT PRETENTIOUS IN ANY WAY. IT’S OUTSIDE. PEOPLE ARE OPENING, EXPANDING THEIR MINDS AND THINGS… AND OPEN IN A WAY THAT THEY’RE NOT IN A WHITE ROOM OR IN A MUSEUM OR AT HOME.”
