John Buck (American, b. 1946) is a nationally recognized Montana artist who has created a large and powerful body of woodblock prints and wood sculptures over the past four decades. Drawn from the collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, this major exhibition features 30 prints and 8 sculpture that span a forty-year period.

Born in Ames, Iowa in 1948, John Buck earned his BFA degree from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1968 and his MFA degree at the University of California, Davis in 1972, where he studied with artists Robert Arneson, Roy DeForest, Manuel Neri, and William T. Wiley. A virtuoso draftsman and imaginative sculptor, Buck explores national and global issues in sophisticated works of art that are imbued with complex iconography and often layered with multiple meanings.

Buck’s art demonstrates an exceptional insight and perspective on the social and political realities of the day. It often explores the enormity and complexity of conflict, yet his figures are whimsical and resilient. Buck manages to make provocative “issues” art, treating the conflict seriously, while his combination of symbols and figures display a sense of humor, and therefore an optimistic balance.

Over the years, Buck has become fascinated with the cultural imagery surrounding his homes in Montana and Hawaii, current events, popular culture, and the irony and humor found in world history and this collected visual vocabulary is woven throughout his printed and sculptural work.