Burchfield and Me

Mark mentioned from my last post about my recent LA work, that he thought I should have seen the recent show of work by Charles Burchfield at the newly expanded or rebuilt Burchfield Penny Art Center at Buffalo State College. I did not, although I would very much like to go to Buffalo. There is much to see there, and not just Niagara and the Yellow Christ.

I have seen a lot of Burchfield though. I saw the 1997-98 retrospective at both the Columbus Museum of Art and at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Prior to that, I have seen his work at the Wichita Art Museum, they have five strong watercolors, as well as the works in both the Amon Carter and Dallas Museum of Art (both nice, but not his best, more regionalist). While living in Southern California I got the opportunity to see the great holdings of Burchfield (although small again) at San Diego Museum of Art.

Here is a nice Sultry Night below.



I have always been inspired by Burchfield, and I think about his work often, I just do not seem to have the ability to let go and run into the fantastic. When I look at some Burchfield, I feel he is trying to give us a sense of how he responds to the sensations of the moment, not just how the scene he paints looks, but also how it feels, and what he hears. There are wonderful emanations that move through the works as if everything is alive and growing before our eyes. I was driving home tonight and watching the trees toss about in the wind and thought that must be what Burchfield was going for. Movement, motion, light, life. It sounds a bit new age-y, I know, and I do not think Burchfield would have liked that at all, but he is very attuned to the natural world around him.

Below is the sun shining through by Burchfield (sorry, not sure of the exact title)




Below, my Sun through in the Giant Forest, Sequoia. I know I was thinking of Burchfield when I painted this.



I think a lot about Burchfield in relation to his viewing of celestial bodies. It (painting the night sky) is something I wish I had more opportunity to do, and it is one of the things that makes me want to live away from the city.

below Burchfield, Orion in Winter



My, Orion, March 12, 2010.



Again, Burchfield and I are often nothing alike, but like so many artists, he is often in my thoughts.