For many decades, I have been creating art and reflecting on its ability to tell ancient, evocative stories of life.
The creative mediums I use are mostly tactile because physical objects, drawing tools, and painting materials trigger my senses on a subconscious level. The sound and feel of chalk on paper, or the smell of freshly applied colour, send waves of thoughts and emotions rising from the depths, surging through my hand and into the material. The juxtaposition of light and dark often becomes an essential element in my work, reflecting the timeless flux of life itself. The universe. Nodes and internodes. Cave and fire. Epic dancing shadows held in elastic equilibrium.
When creating, I often feel as though I am transcending space and time, immersed in a meditative hum.
When I am not expressing myself creatively, a tension begins to build, winding tighter and tighter until it bursts into existence when triggered. My experiences in art, horticulture, digital media, building engineering, and travel are among the influences that forge the cross-connections of line, intersection, and association within my work.
Landscape forms the foundation of my art, as it is the supporting web that we all inhabit. Natural and unnatural fragments of the past are strung together in clusters of memory, interconnected in ways both visible and unseen.
My endeavour is to create work that may one day form part of a future lost cave, acting as a reference to the mind and soul of our time. The world around me, and the people within it, drive me to capture our place in history through art, helping me explain this life to both others and myself through my eyes and hand.
I seek to evoke an emotional connection so powerful that viewers may bond with my perspective and witness an evolution of thought and experience. Strong underlying themes sometimes emerge with an intensity that can overwhelm the viewer.
Please enjoy and delve into my world.
Mark Burden
burdenart.com