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Artist Statement:
Brian Burris has been
painting for over twenty
years.
He is a primitive, in the
sense that he is self-taught.
Originally, he more closely
identified with the
abstract expressionists, with
the emphasis on the
'automatic' or subconscious
act of painting, the
accompanying emotional
intensity and the
anti-figurative, sometimes
violent and grotesque
aesthetic, and the press as
refered to him as a
hard-drinking, bare-knuckles
fighting hulk, comparing to
both Hunter S. Thompson (and I
had never met the late Mr.
Thompson but Mr. Burris
assures me he's no Hunter
Thompson) and Jack Kerouac.
After a seven-year hiatus, Mr.
Burris returned to
painting and segued into the
more minimalist style
seen in color field painters
like Clyfford Still, Rothko,
and Barnett Newman. In
comparing him to actual
painters, Rothko most
frequently comes up. Burris
began to explore the
parallel themes of the
spiritual, and the unconscious
mind, reflected in the
painting process itself
progressing according to both
the will of the
subconscious and the
properties of paint and
canvas, letting the execution
and the subject matter
become analogous to the
unconscious psyche
asserting and expressing
itself, where unconscious
meets chance, spirituality
borders on psychology,
and the...
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Artist Exhibitions:
Most current exhibitions:
25) July ’07: ArtsWorcester,
'A Cool Breeze': Summer
Member’s Exhibition.
26) Sept '07: Mechanic's
Hall, 150th Anniversary Open
House, Worcester Mass.
27) Oct '07: 'Honoring
Memory', Gallery 181, Lawrence
Mass. (juried).
28) Nov '07: ArtsWorcester
'Fire & Ice 2007'.
29) Nov '07: Art House 2007
Art ...
Further Information
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Artist Galleries:
representation:
Dzian Gallery, Water Street,
Worcester Mass
Aurora Gallery, Main Street,
Worcester Mass
...
Further Information
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Artist Reviews:
Coming Soon!
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Collections:
Coming Soon!
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Commissions:
Coming Soon!
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Brian Burris Biography:
| Biographical information for Brian Burris can be found below. The artist may choose what information to display. Sometimes the artist chooses not to display personal information to the general public. |
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Age
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41
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| Gender |
Male
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| Status |
not provided
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| Children |
99
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| Religion |
not provided |
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| Education |
Associate Degree |
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| Hobbies / Interests |
Lieutenant, Worcester Fire Dept.,
EMT
avid motorcyclist |
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| Favorite Artistic Medium |
Painting Acrylic
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| Favorite Arthistory Movement |
Abstract Expressionism - (1940 - 1955)
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| Favorite Visual Artist |
Rothko
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| Favorite Work of Art |
hmn
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| Biggest Artistic Inspiration |
trauma, emotional duress
life, death, the universe & beyond |
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| Why Did You Become An Artist |
because I have to |
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| Your Personal Biography |
I've been painting twenty-three years, themes of death and
loss; abstracts, 'aleatory' invocations in acrylic, post-action school process
layering.
The symbolism of my work is communicated in texture and composition: a montage of distressed and abraded themes, of loss, abandonment and longing, metaphor in three parts—of psychological dissolution--asymmetry, destruction of the partitioning of hierarchies of self—conflict of id, ego and superego; the metaphysical, an archetypal landscape and the horizon that is our consciousness. All executed in extreme and mean ratio: allegorical proportion with deviations, disintegration (these delineations, the repression of traumatic memory, the traumatic initiatory crisis, to die, and so transformed, become nameless with no room for want) on the periphery the edges of perception.. stark fields in contrast: metaphor for the summum of the human psyche.
I am a painter. I call my style 'process abstracts' due similarities to process or layering techniques. I heavily distress my pieces, which have evolved a
recognizable style. I show in corporate, retail and gallery settings a dozen times a year or so, have had three solo shows in as many years, and have sold thirty pieces since coming out of a seven-year, self-imposed hiatus.
I am also a Worcester firefighter—lieutenant actually—riding with trauma cowboys, Valkyrie-borne Huey gunners flying out of the horizon, like Vietnam, only in big red trucks). I’ve seen trauma and fire. From these my themes arise: Grace comes violent. My work has been termed ‘dark and brooding’ in the press, but I prefer melancholy in the classic sense, a memento mori.
I maintain a studio in Worcester. My work is primarily handled through ArtsWorcester, which encompasses four different venues. My body of work: paintings, show history, CV, artist’s statements, previous show graphics—all can be viewed at www.burrisworks.com.
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