Blog

Abstract Ideas. Art You Can Imagine

Conceptual art now dominates the art world. It’s not the skill of the artwork that’s the most important element in the creative process, but the idea behind it instead. I work in abstract ideas – ideas not completely defined – that allow me to create works, even longer projects, that give us something to think about. It’s art you can imagine. For example, imagine watching the news and the reporter tells you something is fact even though you might not agree with it. There’s a gap between you and the reporter isn’t there? His or her information doesn’t line

September 22, 2017

Why Artists Should Sign Their Work

I haven’t had a good rant post in a while, but I’ve been thinking a lot about the act of signing artwork. More specifically: how the chic way to sign an artwork these days is to not sign at all. And I’ve thought a lot about why I sign my work, too. However, I’ve never really come up with a better answer than “it’s mine and therefore I should take credit for it.” This goes back to my feeling that we should be declarative in what we do. I don’t buy into this idea that “God gives me the

June 26, 2017

Exhibit at the Northeast Harbor Public Library

Today we hung the exhibit and tomorrow we open for the month of April at the Northeast Harbor Public Library on Mt. Desert Island, Maine. This will represent my US debut, and I’m excited. It’s an excellent location for exposure to a great community. Galleries and museums are nice, but the location is often just as important, and in this town the library is probably just as valuable, maybe more so. There’s just a few more tweaks to do tomorrow afternoon before we officially open, but fingers are crossed that all goes well, and not just for tomorrow but for

March 31, 2017

Zaratan Residency: The Final Weekend

So here we are, the final weekend of my Zaratan residency. When I first arrived I had a lot of plans, some expectations, and at the same no idea what I was going to produce. I had spoken with the gallery before arriving about possibly exhibiting the last week of the residency, but due to their schedule and, quite frankly, my lack of time to create and frame everything properly, they said no. This motivated me to only focus on making art. Actually, I had another motivation: fear. We put all my art – my entire studio, essentially, with

January 26, 2017

Zaratan Open Studio

My Zaratan open studio starts Friday, Jan 27 at 7pm to 10pm and goes until Sunday, Jan 29. The open studio is upstairs from the gallery in the residents’ quarters. I will show the studies that I created during my residency period. At the same time, I will show a work-in-progress sculpture using beer cans and a collaborative video with fellow resident Daniel Gawronski. Admission is free. This comes after my artist talk, which you can see here. All pieces are for sale, including a limited-edition run of a Risograph. I created the Risograph at the request of the

January 25, 2017

Novo-Surrealism Artist Talk at Zaratan

This video is of the Novo-Surrealism artist talk I gave in January, 2017 at Zaratan Arte Contemporanea in Lisbon, Portugal. The topic was Novo-Surrealism and the Media’s Message versus the Audience’s Understanding of Reality. About 10 people attended live and about 200 people attended on the live broadcast on FB Live. The discussion lasted about an hour. It covered the theory, possible avenues the project can take going forward, and how open the idea can become. I was a bit nervous, as I had not given a serious artist talk like this before. In the end, however, I knew

January 14, 2017

Greg Mason Burns