http://www.stephentburt.com
stburt@gwi.net
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
The images I create are a result of a labor-intensive meditation exploring the evocative history of images and the passage of time. Utilizing the ornamental, landscape, and figurative motifs of the 15th and 16th centuries, I have adapted elements of the periods vernacular graphic syntax as a means of investigating the desires and conflicts of the present day.
I have devoted considerable effort to studying (through both copying and text) the trajectories of substantive influence from Schongauer to Dürer to Holbein to Rubens to discern and distill the compelling aspects of their diverse and emotive works.
Through the use of drawing and printmaking (as well as painting) I use this knowledge as a springboard to innovation and expression. Though my imagery is drawn from many sources, the stories of Ovid’s Metamorphoses are currently inspirational in their polysemic treatment of human emotion and irrationality.
My interest in (now somewhat) anachronistic technique lies in its ability to shift the consciousness of both the artist and the viewer in creating images that require both labor- intensive process and contemplative viewing to draw out complex internal rhyme and rhythm. Once so engaged, the viewer can enter into a psychologically intensive dialogue that extends beyond expected satisfactions.
BRIEF RESUME
Selected Exhibitions
- 2006 The Clown, Portland, ME — The Year of the Printmaker
- 2005 Judith Leighton Gallery, Blue Hill, ME —Deluge in Twelve Parts
- 2003 Aucocisco Gallery, Portland, ME — Desire and Conflict
- 2001 Janus - Russian-American Center for the Arts, Brookline, MA — Unsettling Myths
Collections
- The New York Public Library, New York, NY
- The Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
- The Fogg - Harvard University Art Museum, Cambridge, MA
- The Boston Public Library, Boston, MA
- The Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, NJ
- The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers, SUNJ, New Brunswick, NJ
- The Providence Public Library, Providence, RI
- Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA
Awards
- Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation Grant 2004
- Ruth Chenven Foundation Grant 2004
- Change Inc. Foundation Grant 2004
- Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant 2003
- Purchase Prize, 43rd Annual National Juried Print Exhibition,
Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, NJ
Education
- 1991 State University of New York at Purchase, M.F.A.
- 1987 Rhode Island School of Design, B.F.A.
- 1983 - 84 Berklee School of Music