Tunnel Vision: The Fenway Vendor Series by Chris Plunkett
This November we present in our main gallery Tunnel Vision. This exhibition features the work of Core Artists Chris Plunkett and Joseph Fontinha. The show runs through November 22nd and can be seen by appointment during the week or for walk in viewing on Saturday and Sunday from 12–4. Below Plunkett talks about his Fenway Vendor series.
I’ve worked part time at Fenway Park as a vendor for 21 years. What the average Sox fan sees as the sights, sounds, and smells of the ballpark, my colleagues and I see much differently. Each game at Fenway is the same for us. For those 3+ hours between the National Anthem and the 7th inning stretch, tunnel vision takes over. Muscle memory kicks in. Autopilot directs us. Commission is made. The more we sell, the more we make. We draw invisible boundaries between home plate and left field territories, the bleachers and right field. It is a learned skill in a unique environment acquired from years of repetition. It is a race against the clock to sell as many hot dogs, peanuts, bottle waters, beers, lemonade as humanly possible in a short amount of time.
Limited Edition Prints: Each print is a limited edition of 25. Museum quality archival inkjet print on cotton rag paper. Special price of $110 each during the duration of the exhibition. Contact us for more information or to make a purchase ➢
Each vendor is an entrepreneur for that brief time. Each vendor toeing the line of unwritten territorial lines, competing with the person next to them. A self-policing unit of sarcastic, witty, competitive, loud, contentious local workers who grind for every dollar earned.
For this year’s baseball season, because of COVID-19, these paintings are the closest most of us—vendors and fans alike—will get to the sights and sounds of Fenway Park. Large gatherings (the genesis of hawking) have been canceled, lending new significance to this series. Suddenly, this body of work represents a very recent past that seems long ago.