Bud Vase II
Artist: Rachel Burgess
Price:
$4,250.00
Medium: Prints
More Details
Creation Date: 2022
Materials: Monotype
Dimensions: 40" x 40" x 1"
Finish: Framed
About the Item: Rachel Burgess presents large-scale monotypes that serve as windows into her life. In this newest series the artist reinterprets bouquets given to her by her husband. An NYPD detective, he often comes home late at night, bearing flowers from their local deli, the only store open at the late hour. The series began when Burgess decided to sketch the flowers. Attracted to their color and shape, the artist carved out simplified chromatic compositions in the small-scale drawings. These small sketches, included in the exhibition, give an even more intimate experience of the ephemeral gift. Burgess immortalized the short-lived flowers by printing them on a monumental scale. Each composition consists of large, smooth areas of bright bold color that depict the subjects in silhouette. Burgess creates snapshots of a moment as shadow figures of pure color fill the frame.
The artist’s depictions are abstracted and blurred at the edges, as if the scene itself has been filtered through the artist’s lens. The viewer can only experience the private moment secondhand. Or perhaps the soft edges are to emphasize the brief lives of these gifts from nature, allowed to live on as fleeting visages. Much like Pop artists Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, Burgess uses a familiar object or scene and reimagines it, taking with the imagery its context and inherent connections. Not only do Burgess’ monotypes give her audience a look into an intimate moment in her own life, but they remind us of a universal feeling, of the small gestures made by and for the ones we love. In printing these simple gifts Burgess wishes to not only express gratitude to her husband, but also to memorialize the city’s essential workers and services.
The artist’s depictions are abstracted and blurred at the edges, as if the scene itself has been filtered through the artist’s lens. The viewer can only experience the private moment secondhand. Or perhaps the soft edges are to emphasize the brief lives of these gifts from nature, allowed to live on as fleeting visages. Much like Pop artists Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, Burgess uses a familiar object or scene and reimagines it, taking with the imagery its context and inherent connections. Not only do Burgess’ monotypes give her audience a look into an intimate moment in her own life, but they remind us of a universal feeling, of the small gestures made by and for the ones we love. In printing these simple gifts Burgess wishes to not only express gratitude to her husband, but also to memorialize the city’s essential workers and services.
About The Artist
Rachel Burgess is a visual artist based in New York. Originally from Boston, she received
a B.A. in literature from Yale University and an M.F.A. in Illustration from the School of
Visual Arts. Her interest in narrative and sequential forms continues to inform her work.
She has been an artist in residence at Zea Mays Printmaking and the Schoodic Institute
in Acadia National Park. The coastal landscapes of Maine have been the main source of inspiration for Burgess for many years. Her ongoing fascination with how land meets water—along rivers, lakes and the seaside—fuels the creation of her stunning, expressive painterly monotypes. Gradations of subtle colors—pinks to blues to warm yellows—underscore the impressionistic views the artist captures, first in sketches and sometimes years later when she revisits particular images from her many sketchbooks.
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