Our news is his muse!
Quirky Manhattan collage artist Peter Tunney — who drew crowds at Art Basel Miami Beach last week with his “Planet of the Apes”-style sunken pieces of President Trump’s now-defunct Taj Mahal casino — explained Tuesday how he uses the New York Post in almost all his works.
“I’m addicted. I’m the last guy buying newspapers,” Tunney quipped.
“I buy 10 New York Posts per day. And if I’m not around, it’s someone who works for me’s job to buy 10 New York Posts per day. I incessantly clip the New York Post, so I have, like, 10,000 New York Posts in my studio that are organized by headlines and by topics.”
The clippings are stored in “a giant bookcase,” Tunney said.
“I find that The Post’s word-smithing and puniness and relevance is so great,” he added. “So I’ve lived and died clipping The Post and used it in almost every piece of art.”
Tunney — a former Wall Street exec known for hob-nobbing with the rich and famous — works in a Tribeca studio and also has a gallery in the city, as well as one in Miami.
One of the works in his Miami gallery in Wynwood, titled “The Elephant in the Room,” is entirely covered in Post clippings. Other pieces that he has on display involve recycled Trump trash — including a chandelier, carpeting, and signs from the former Atlantic City casino.
Tunney titled his Art Basel installation “Excerpts From The Taj Mahal (The Truth Always Happens).’’
But Tunney‘s true love still lies with The Post — it got him a wife, after all.
“I met this girl 12 years ago, and she loved Page Six — we used to read it together when I was courting her,’’ Tunney recalled.
Then the pair split. So Tunney asked Post gossip columnist Richard Johnson to do a story saying he loved her and wanted to marry her, although the artist lied that the pair had been engaged.
“He wrote a story called ‘Fiancée flees,’ ” Tunney said of Johnson.
“It was, ‘Artworks oddball is heartbroken’ and goes on to say, ‘Amy, if you’re out there, Peter loves you, and he wants to marry you.’
“She read it, she called me, and now we’ve been married for 10¹/₂ years and have a 2-year-old son’’ named Art, Tunney said.
“How could I not like the New York Post? You gave me my two most treasured things.”