Alberto Burri

Alberto Burri is an artist that I looked at based on the suggestion of my professor. I originally looked at his work and saw many similarities with some of the shows and art fairs I have been to recently. I also saw some elements such as distress, and his choice of colors which reminded me of my current body of work. However, as happens so often, I was blown away to find out these are works from 50 and 60 years ago. A time when "unpainted paintings" were not nearly as in style as they seem to be today. There is an old saying "make a plan and you make god laugh." I would like to add a new one "think you are being original and make an art historian laugh."

Burri was in world war 2 as an officer, and I feel that much of that masculenity shows in his work. However, he also worked in the medical field which is where much of the gentle touch and grace seem to come from. According to an article in Art and Design his work has often been compared to scars and decay which one can only assume come from his experiences in these two fields.

One thing I rarely think about is how lucky I am to have a home depot around the corner for my art supplies. The article previously mentioned touched on the fact that his career embraced new materials only as they became available to him as post-war reconstruction went on. Eventually adding in metal and using welding instead of burlap and tar. This truly inspires me to think of. Making work like this because it says something, but also being able to work through the process of denial of materials because of the state of the world around you. I may try to limit myself in future work to see how it effects the final product, or even the working process itself.