Brendan Stuart Burns: The Space Between
"I am grappling with the concept of hæcceity, inscape, thing-ness, essence and the ontological in the way I see a stone, rock-pool or lichen growth."
Based in south Wales, it is Burns' close relationship with the Pembrokeshire coast that has inspired a large and ongoing series of paintings
Burns' paintings have a spiritual and contemplative quality to them. The fine line which separates figuration and abstraction underpins this body of work. Themes of ontology and transcendence are reinforced in intimate studies of rock-pools, stones and lichen growth, communicated to the viewer in large scale canvases full of rich impasto and bold colour.
"My work, both past and present, is underpinned by the central themes of absence, isolation, mortality and the spiritual. It is the balance between paint, process and subject matter that has maintained my visual language and its development through what on the surface may seem to have been differing themes. I am grappling with the concept of hæcceity, inscape, thing-ness, essence and the ontological in the way I see a stone, rock-pool or lichen growth. The challenge is then using paint and charcoal to communicate this experience to the viewer as well as incorporating my own refractions of self, identity and awareness of mortality and the spiritual."
Returning to Pembrokeshire regularly presents the dilemma, 'Which beach to visit?' It is the catalyst to continue asking questions through paint. It is, 'the breath' that my work references again and again. 'To feel breath, the wind and space. To be human in the primeval wind, to taste the wind, to shiver. To breathe in memory, thought, serenity, time and contemplation.' When I ask myself once again what is the point of painting? what do my paintings do? I see that the point is quite simply to create a painting which 'allows thought itself to breathe.'"- Brendan Burns, 2024
Burns' work is held in numerous private and public collections including The National Museum & Galleries of Wales, The Derek Williams Trust, The Contemporary Art Society of Wales, A Fundacion Casa Museo 'A Solaina' de Pilono, Spain and Contemporary Art Society of Britain (Tom Bendhem Bequest), Austria, Australia, China, Denmark, Dubai, Holland, Hong Kong, Jordan, Kuwait, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, USA and The United Arab Emirates.
Burns is represented by Artis Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand; Caldwell Snyder, California; Osborne Samuel Gallery, London.
