Bruce Tapola -- People of the Earth #4

Bruce Tapola
People of Earth #4, 2025
Bronze, unique
8⅜ x 2¾ x 1¾ in.

Repurposing classic American tropes – cowboys, pin-up girls, religious tracts, Western vistas – Bruce Tapola’s paintings, drawings and sculptures extract humor, vulgarity and empathy from the country’s foundational hypocrisies. "People of the Earth #4" is from a series of four figures cast from carved polystyrene feature ragtag protestors, street preachers and other miscreants staggering under the incomprehensible weight of late-stage capitalism. Simultaneously defiant, amusing and downtrodden, they embody the valiant folly of pushing back against the daily humiliations meted out by rigged social and political systems.

Bruce Tapola was born and raised in Ohio. He received his BFA from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and his MFA from Montana State University in Bozeman, MT. He has exhibited nationally and internationally and has been the recipient of several awards including the McKnight Foundation Artist Fellowship. Tapola is an active member in several artist collaboratives including Paintallica, Free Art School and the Northern Forrest Brotherhood. He is the director and founding member of the Federation of Outlaw Creatives United (FOC-U). He currently teaches painting and drawing at St. Cloud State University and lives in St. Paul, MN.