Trent Burleson: Birds and Other Metaphors

May 21 - August 17, 2011
Members' Reception June 10

Trent Burleson Diving Warbler with Insect, 2010 Oil on canvas, 34 x 33 in.

In Trent Burleson's paintings, birds vie for a vulnerable morsel, dive with grace and focused intent, or threaten each other with displays of aggression. Their shapes, and the foliage that surrounds them are softened, blurry - as though viewed through a gossamer veil. His colors range from muted tones of ochre, brown and gray to more intense shades of yellow, red and green. But always the scenes are illuminated by an unnatural light: things are not quite what they seem.

A painter of landscapes, still lifes and portraits, Burleson says, "All my work is about the same things: composition, structure and geometry. I'm interested in how a painting works, how shapes are repeated, how they relate to each other." His interest also eaxtends to "...the narrative that the birds create. I love the bird(s) because they're flying, they're going somewhere." In most of these paintings, "the birds are contending for something, they're striving."

Burleson's birds are beautiful , breathtaking even, but they aren't precisely true-to-life. "If I was a naturalist, I would make the birds more realistic; paint them with a higher degree of verisimilitude."

Despite the title "Birds and Other Metaphors," Burleson, who teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design, declines to offer his own metaphorical interpretations of his paintings. Says Burleson, "I invite the viewers to find their own meaning and metaphors."

Trent Burleson will be here to talk with us over lunch on Tuesday, July 26 at 12 pm noon. At 1 pm, Trent will demonstrate chiaroscuro, a technique with origins in the Renaissance and still used today to create depth on a two-dimensional surface by manipulating light and shadow. Bring a lunch. Free for Members; $5 for non-members.

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