Vignette: Barry Burcaw

"Pixilated" by Barry Burcaw, oil on canvas, 50x50in, 2-16, $2800

Barry Burcaw studied graphic design in school, earning a degree from the University of Bridgeport, but he only began painting once he retired from a long, successful career in advertising. This provides an easy explanation of why his compositions are so dominated by forceful geometric structure and bold saturated colors.

Often the abstract images remain rooted in representational sources; Burcaw is fond of landscapes and architectural sources as a point of departure, but it is not unusual for him to veer into diagrammatical structures of pure pattern and shape. “Pixilated” does this, as does “Vernal Equinox”, even if the title makes explicit that the qualities of atmosphere and climate that we assume were in the artist’s mind here. The lower half containing dark grey and earth tones beneath the blue and yellow tones in the upper half cannot help but connote landscape, if only because our expectations fill in the blanks with little prompting – doesn’t the abstract artist appropriately depend on the viewer’s frame of reference?  “Solar Flares” is more obvious in its subject, placing a brilliant yellow orb in the center, and Burcaw’s curled linear forms representing the sun’s angry expression are more whimsical in their effect than the fiery astronomical phenomenon that provide the inspiration for the piece.

"Impressions of Santorini" by Barry Burcaw, oil on canvas, 50x50in, 2017, $3500

There is an unyielding exactitude in Burcaw’s work that suggests a highly structured perspective on the world at large. Perhaps this is a common underlying truth of any artist who utilizes geometry in such bold, almost confrontational terms.

Burcaw recently placed 4 paintings with Zephyr Gallery as part of their Corporate Art Program.

Hometown: Palisades, New York
Age: 74
Education: BS in Graphic Design, University of Bridgeport, CT

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"Vernal Equinox" by Barry Burcaw, oil on canvas, 50x50in, 2017, $2800

"Solar Flares" by Barry Burcaw, oil on canvas, 50x50in, 2008 $3500

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Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2017 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved.

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Vignette: Patrick Donley

Donley in his studio working.

As a painter, Patrick Donley became known earlier in his career for distinctive acrylic paintings; compositions of spherical objects applied with an insistent mark-making technique. Then, for several years he worked with found objects, first in 3-D wall-hanging constructions of freewheeling spatial complexity, and then in The Memento Series, which incorporated old photographs into intimate collages that evoked communal memories of the past.

More recently, Donley has embarked on, “…a path of rediscovery,” returning to the sphere, and if, at first glance, the paintings look the same, and most easily connote astronomical perspectives on heavenly bodies, there is indeed the same concern for relationships in space, but have the years of focus on 3-D informed the artist’s mark making, so that we feel a greater plasticity in the modeling of form - a greater freedom now in the application of medium? Whatever we imagine, Donley finds a curious tension in the work: There is something surreal happening that is at once perplexing while at the same time pleasing.”

"Untitled #2" by Patrick Donley, 36x36in, mixed media on canvas

"I draw with a brush. I draw with graphite. I draw with charcoal. I stain, and I glaze. Collage is worked into the surface, and I draw over that. I render worlds, and I proffer particles. Accident belies intention. Color justifies the means. I enjoy what I do, and I offer it up to you."

A long-time member, now co-owner of Zephyr Gallery, Patrick Donley has been making art since the early 80’s in one form or another.  His work can be found in collections from New York to Seattle, including Paul Allen, founder of the EMP Museum. Locally, his paintings and sculptures are located in numerous corporate and private collections.

Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Age: 54
Education: BA in Painting, Davidson College in Painting; MFA in Painting and Drawing, Northwestern University
Website: http://patrickdonley.wix.com/donleyart

A recent photo of Donley's studio.

"Untitled #1" by Patrick Donley, 25x31in, mixed media on canvas

"Untitled #3" by Patrick Donley, 36x38in, mixed media on canvas

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Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2016 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved.

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