128 http://www.AmericanArtCollector.com
C
hristopher Burk sees beauty where most would
never look. Complex power and communica-
tion lines strung from poles soar and droop across
dusky skies above nondescript urban buildings. “The
paintings are about quiet moments in the urban
landscape. Mainly at night when even more of this
quietness and mysteriousness happens,” he says.
“My eye gravitates toward the organized chaos of
the poles and wires that is considered by many to
be an eyesore. I find beauty in that. I’m giving the
viewer the tools to turn toward their environments
and giving them the capability to find beauty in the
simplest things.”
His urban paintings are in an exhibition at George
Billis Gallery in New York through December 7.
Among the paintings is Summer Nocturne I, adominant pole towering over a small rectangle of the
top of floor of a nondescript building. “The overall
composition overrides the building which is just
there to fill it out,” he says. “When I started painting,
it organically happened that my eye was looking for
the unorthodox. I like to leave out the human element.
When I’m painting a nocturne, a window doesn’t lend
itself to action. With the night scenes and a lighted
window, the human element is there behind the scenes.
There is life.” The wires are connecting people even if
the people are not visible, bringing electric power and
telecommunications.
Burk walks around the city “to look for things. I take
pictures on my phone and make notes about what
the color was at that moment because it isn’t in the
photos.” He paints on square wood panels and startsCHRISTOPHER BURKUrban Beauty
UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / GEORGE BILLIS GALLERY
Through 12/7 New York, NY1
Beige House Nocturne,
oil on panel, 20 x 20"
2
Billboard Dusk 1,
oil on panel, 24 x 24"
3
Illuminated Nocturne V,
oil on panel, 10 x 8"
4
Summer Nocturne I,
oil on panel, 24 x 24"12
3