August 23 - September 30, 2023
Sunstroke | Denise Burge
Artist Statement:
My work addresses how our ideas about certain places represent a sort of cultural fantasy, a romantic collage of impressions and desires which ossify into a psychological 'space' that in fact is no place at all. Currently I am most interested in the element of the tropical as a representation of leisure, fecundity, nascent life and mortality.
Every summer of my youth was highlighted by a trip to the South Carolina coast. The profuse tropical plants, the tawdry neon ‘party-down’ boardwalk promenades, and the mysterious waters themselves struck me as otherworldly and sensual. Idealistic vernacular representation of these places abounded (on t-shirts, billboards, etc) as functions of our desire for idyllic leisure and exotic glamour, even though we were right in the middle of the spaces depicted.
I work in the fabric medium primarily because of the theatrical nature of the painted quilt. Until close inspection, the work often looks like it was painted—but much of it is pieced and embroidered. I also love the slowness of embroidery, which for me, evokes the narcotic effect that I want the work to contain. My works on paper are often sketches or ‘rehearsals’ of approaches to the quilts. Both employ a mixture of 'high and low art' surfaces and styles, referencing vernacular urban coastal culture.
My deepest fascination is with our layered relationship with the natural world. The environments in these images represent my attempt to create a hybrid paradise that embraces both worlds: the air-brushed fantasy and the corporeal reality of our own oceanic bodies.
Artist Bio:
Denise Burge received her MFA in Painting from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1991, and since has taught at the New York State College of Ceramics and the University of Cincinnati, where she is a Professor of Art. She teaches courses that range from seminars on film theory to fiber art and animation. In 2004 she was awarded the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award for Visual Art. She has received multiple Ohio Arts Council Awards for Individual Artists and has been awarded competitive, funded residencies at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito California, and the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans. Recently Burge combines solo work in the quilt medium with collaborative work in video and installation.
My work addresses how our ideas about certain places represent a sort of cultural fantasy, a romantic collage of impressions and desires which ossify into a psychological 'space' that in fact is no place at all. Currently I am most interested in the element of the tropical as a representation of leisure, fecundity, nascent life and mortality.
Every summer of my youth was highlighted by a trip to the South Carolina coast. The profuse tropical plants, the tawdry neon ‘party-down’ boardwalk promenades, and the mysterious waters themselves struck me as otherworldly and sensual. Idealistic vernacular representation of these places abounded (on t-shirts, billboards, etc) as functions of our desire for idyllic leisure and exotic glamour, even though we were right in the middle of the spaces depicted.
I work in the fabric medium primarily because of the theatrical nature of the painted quilt. Until close inspection, the work often looks like it was painted—but much of it is pieced and embroidered. I also love the slowness of embroidery, which for me, evokes the narcotic effect that I want the work to contain. My works on paper are often sketches or ‘rehearsals’ of approaches to the quilts. Both employ a mixture of 'high and low art' surfaces and styles, referencing vernacular urban coastal culture.
My deepest fascination is with our layered relationship with the natural world. The environments in these images represent my attempt to create a hybrid paradise that embraces both worlds: the air-brushed fantasy and the corporeal reality of our own oceanic bodies.
Artist Bio:
Denise Burge received her MFA in Painting from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1991, and since has taught at the New York State College of Ceramics and the University of Cincinnati, where she is a Professor of Art. She teaches courses that range from seminars on film theory to fiber art and animation. In 2004 she was awarded the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award for Visual Art. She has received multiple Ohio Arts Council Awards for Individual Artists and has been awarded competitive, funded residencies at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito California, and the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans. Recently Burge combines solo work in the quilt medium with collaborative work in video and installation.
