STEVE BURDEN
PIGS AT PEPYS
New paintings
Lane House Arts Gallery, Bath
16th June - 28th July 2017
"Growing up in an urban jungle, surrounded by out-of-scale concrete fortresses, has inevitably informed my development and visual aesthetic as an artist. Inspired by my own experiences growing up on the Pepys Estate in Deptford, south London, my paintings investigate dystopian themes and ideas associated with British housing estates. I’m interested in exploring the social issues that arose from the creation of this estate – security, isolation, control and gang culture – as well as its design and architecture, and the history of the site.
In terms of constructions, layering has become an important aspect of my work, both in the building up of layer upon layer and erasure, and also as a means to build multiple readings and a more complex narrative into the paintings.
My process can involve dissolving a day's painting so that the surface becomes like a palimpsest of time, and I also paint over areas, obliterating them and taking them back to the background colour."
An exhibition of work by the winner of the Black Swan Arts Open 2016, Steve Burden is inspired by dystopian themes associated with housing estates. Pigs at Pepys features paintings informed by Steve's childhood growing up on the Pepys Estate in Deptford, South London. Inspired by his upbringing in the “urban jungle” of London, his paintings contain architectural and figurative elements. The work is evocative of Friedrich Engels observations of the streets of London, “The very turmoil of the streets has something repulsive, something against which human nature rebels.” Burden, however, creates images that not only rebel against the bustling streets and forgotten housing estates but revel and excel within them.
He constructs images laden with brutalist edges and heavy slabs of colour to express the juxtaposition of humans in urban environments. The works contain a sense of aggression and isolation which is accentuated by Burden’s aesthetic style of scraped-back paint and strong, solid, tonal range.
Read more about the artist here
In terms of constructions, layering has become an important aspect of my work, both in the building up of layer upon layer and erasure, and also as a means to build multiple readings and a more complex narrative into the paintings.
My process can involve dissolving a day's painting so that the surface becomes like a palimpsest of time, and I also paint over areas, obliterating them and taking them back to the background colour."
An exhibition of work by the winner of the Black Swan Arts Open 2016, Steve Burden is inspired by dystopian themes associated with housing estates. Pigs at Pepys features paintings informed by Steve's childhood growing up on the Pepys Estate in Deptford, South London. Inspired by his upbringing in the “urban jungle” of London, his paintings contain architectural and figurative elements. The work is evocative of Friedrich Engels observations of the streets of London, “The very turmoil of the streets has something repulsive, something against which human nature rebels.” Burden, however, creates images that not only rebel against the bustling streets and forgotten housing estates but revel and excel within them.
He constructs images laden with brutalist edges and heavy slabs of colour to express the juxtaposition of humans in urban environments. The works contain a sense of aggression and isolation which is accentuated by Burden’s aesthetic style of scraped-back paint and strong, solid, tonal range.
Read more about the artist here
Peter at Pepys oil on canvas 2017 160cm x 200cm £8,000
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2017 - UTOPIAN MYTHS, BLACK SWAN ARTS, FROME
2017 - PEPYS, ROPER GALLERY, BATH
2015 - PIGS MIGHT FLY, OLD STREET, LONDON
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2017 - ALTERNATE VISIONS, BRISTOL MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY, UK
2017 - FRINGE ARTS, BATH, UK
2017 - GAVIN TURK AND FRIENDS, BRUTON ART FACTORY, UK
2017 - WAY OUT WEST, BRUTON ART FACTORY, UK
2016 - THE THAMES: THE ARTERY OF LONDON, DEVON HOUSE, LONDON
2016 - BRUT MIDWINTER, BRUTON ART FACTORY, UK2016 - ENTOPIA, SPACE, BRISTOL, UK
2016 - BLACKSWAN ARTS, FROME, UK
2016 - FRINGE ARTS BATH, BATH CENTRAL LIBRARY, UK
2016 - OPEN CALL, CHAPEL ARTS CAFE, BATH, UK
2016 - SPACE, CORSHAM COURT, WILTSHIRE, UK
Abattoir oil on canvas 2016 160cm x 200cm Private Collection
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Steve Burden's painting Abattoir is part of a new touring exhibition 'Alternate Visions', showcasing the breadth of undiscovered creative talent in the South West. Venues and dates: Bristol Museum & Art Gallery: 3rd June - 10th September 2017 Falmouth Art Gallery: 25th September - 10th December 2017 The Wilson, Cheltenham: 15th January - 11th March 2018 Poole Museum: 29th March - 20th May 2018 |