By Bonnie Gangelhoff
Brian Burt likes to describe his work as a contemporary take on the still-life genre but executed in a traditional style. “Instead of bowls of fruit, I use objects in my day-to-day life,” the Ohio-based artist says. Indeed, a viewer of a Burt tablescape is treated to an array of modern-day accoutrements, such as money, playing cards, and wine bottles. “I like to take an object people have seen thousands of times and get them to focus on it for a moment so they can appreciate it,” he explains.
Burt often laces his paintings with his trademark sense of humor. For example, at first glance, A SONG FOR SOLANUM appears to be a simple still-life composition. But in this painting Mr. Potato Head wields a potato peeler, and there’s a recipe for mashed potatoes tacked to the wall. Burt has a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Miami University in Ohio. He is represented by the Artists’ House Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; 5th Street Gallery, Cincinnati, OH; and www.bmburt.com.
Featured in our annual “21 Over 31” feature in the November 2009 issue