PEEKSKILL, N.Y. - Chris Burke and Ed Burke

Exhibit at Gallery25N. An exhibit of steel sculptures and oil paintings. September 10th - October 17th 2004. The gallery is open Friday - Sunday 12:00 - 5:00 pm, and by appointment.

Gallery 25N is the newest gallery in Peekskill's growing art district and its current show is a rarity in the art world. The paintings of Ed Burke and the sculpture of Chris Burke represent a unique opportunity to see a father and a son show their work side by side. It is also an opportunity to observe the dialogues and evolutions that go on both within an artist's work and between artists. In this case the dialogues, both those spoken and those unspoken are at levels well below the surface since the works are in entirely different mediums.

Ed Burke's paintings are from an early series of abstracts that evolve toward greater color complexity while at the same time moving away from pure abstraction toward a suggestion of the representational. Though an initial view would indicate the works are done in very different painting styles, there are relationships, both in color and composition that ground the entire series.

Chris Burke's sculptures are both powerful and lyrical. His medium welded steel. The earlier works in this series are purely abstract. They are exquisite compositions executed in a medium that often produces a forbidding surface. The later works utilize that same forbidding surface but whimsically place it on such objects as a simple chair and a tricycle.

What both artists share is a process. Neither starts with a preconceived image that is simply executed. Instead each begins with an element; for Chris a rusted steel bar or an old chair may represent the seed, for Ed a single brush stroke or color field on canvass. From that beginning each enters a dialogue with the work that allows it to grow organically. The dialogue continues throughout each series, each work echoing predecessors while always striving to find the next horizon the language affords. The results are often arresting and never less than interesting.

Contact: Jen Prunty
914-293-0811
mail@gallery25N.com
www.gallery25N.com

The Exhibit at Gallery 25N

Chris Burke - Biography

"Born in The Bronx, NY, 1973, moved to Croton, NY 1978. Studied Fine Art and Majored in Sculpture at SUNY Purchase New York from 1990 -1994. Continued his art education at the Westchester Community College, while working as a full time graphic artist, photographer and science illustrator for educational publishing."

Forbidden Surfaces… Is a body of work in welded steel. Chris Burke's sculptures are both powerful and lyrical. The earlier works in this series are purely abstract. They are exquisite compositions executed in a medium that often produces a forbidding surface. The later works utilize that same forbidding surface but whimsically place it on such objects as a simple chair and a tricycle.

He developed thirteen photo collages commissioned by Brooks/Cole Publishing, CA. for their major physics textbook "Physics by Gene Hecht". These collages depict the essential concepts in the principles of physics and were published as chapter openings.

Exhibits

One Man Exhibit
Room Installation "Objects with Forbidden Surfaces"
Welded Steel Sculptures
SUNY Purchase Gallery

Two Person Exhibit
Welded Steel Sculptures
Gallery25N, NY

Chris Burke's sculptures "Forbidden Surfaces"

Chair & Table Welded Steel 24" x 33" x 26.5	Exposed Welded Steel 23.5" x 23.5" x 48.5"	Three Cylinders Welded Steel 5" x 7" x 17"
Untitled Welded Steel 17.5 x 17.5 "" x 66.5"	Mercury Steel Giclee Mono Print / Pencil 22 x 30	Hatchet Welded Steel 5" x 7" x 17"

Edward A. Burke; biography

"Born in Brooklyn, NY, 1945 he established his reputation as a representational and abstract painter, particularly regionalist landscapes represented in his series "reflection on the surface of ponds" in and around northern Westchester New York.

He was raised in Brooklyn, attended The High School of Art & Design in Manhattan and graduated in 1964. He continued his art education at the School of Visual Arts while working as a full time commercial artist in small advertising agencies around New York City. His serious pursuit of painting began in 1970. Simultaneously he was also developing his career as a book designer and art director for educational publishers.

Edward Burke's paintings are well represented in private collections and in corporate commissions, as well as publications.

His three major bodies of work

Reflective Still Water 1982-1985
Expressions from the ID 1983-1992
The Studio 1995-

Reflective Still Water this period of work began as small representational paintings of the shorelines of ponds, using oils on watercolor paper. The work progressed to large-scale impressionistic paintings capturing tranquil energy of textures and movements of the water as air passes over the surface.

Expressions from the Id is a purely subconscious process. An initial brushstroke or color shape is the geniuses, then an intuitive response to that action begins. The content and composition begin to grow as the painting takes on a life of its own. It is purely an instinctive drive, response after response, until the work is completed.

The Studio is a body of paintings including several still-life subjects and room interior motifs. The viewer is able to observe solid objects along with lines and forms of other objects that are normally obscured from view. These intersecting lines and forms, along with the use of abstract color, provide another level of composition. These paintings are about his Mt. Airy studio in Croton New York.

Exhibits

Group Show, Landscape - A Sense of Place, Gallery 25N, NY
One Man Show, Abstracts, Hudson River Gallery, NY
Group Show, Five Abstract Painters, Dubelle Gallery, NY
Group Show, Landscapes, Edward Brown Gallery, NY
Group Show, The Power of Abstraction, Society of the Arts, FL
Group Show, Work on Paper, Silo Gallery, NY
Group Show, Exhibit of Paintings and Sculpture, Ward Ness Gallery, NY

Edward Burke's paintings "Expressions from the Id"