Masonry - Greg Mason Burns

All
Art
Art Project
Artistic Process
Behind the Artwork
Contemporary Art
Criticism
Exhibit
How-to in Art
Publications
Reductivism
Residency
Uncategorized

December 5, 2018

A Conversation About the Market

[caption id="attachment_2927" align="alignleft" width="257"] A Fallacy by Greg Mason Burns - Photograph (2016)[/caption] A Conversation About the Market was recently published by The Prostitution of Art, which is a contemporary art blog based out of Boston. The site discusses the unfair treatment of artists by society / market. Articles are meant to be abstract criticisms of these forces in the contemporary world. Here is the link to the original text: The Prostitution of Art. A Conversation About the Market: I want to be creative, but society has its own rules. There are no rules for creativity, and yet here we are. Where? Here,...

April 1, 2018

Greg

Color Field Painting

[caption id="attachment_3617" align="alignleft" width="300"] Color Field #4 - Oil on Wood[/caption] What is Color Field Painting? Color Field painting, a derivative of Abstract Expressionism, is essentially the attention to color in abstraction as opposed to form or structure. The early Color Field painters, such as Mark Rothko, Clement Greenberg, and Clyfford Still created large works such that when one was standing up close one was absorbed in the color. Color Field has developed since then with various tendencies moving both further from shape and form and closer to it. What I'm Doing I'm developing color field in a way that combats the color against...

March 21, 2018

Greg

Artist Residency at The Quarry – Contemporary Arts International

[caption id="attachment_2954" align="alignleft" width="224"] Contemporary Arts International presents: Self-Portrait #2 - oil on canvas - 2013[/caption] Great news. I've been accepted to attend a two-month artist residency at The Quarry at Contemporary Arts International in Acton, MA for 2018. My tenure there will be split between one month in the spring (May-June) and another in the fall (Oct-Nov) with the exhibit being in Nov. My plan is to create ten large pieces similar to the one to the left. Except that I won't be doing silhouettes. Instead, I'll be painting colored squares or stripes as a background and putting the minimalist charcoal...

Incomplete is a minimalist, oil, abstract painting depicting the process of Scottish Independence using blue on a white canvas.

February 16, 2018

Greg

Imago Mundi – Scotland Collection

Incomplete - oil on canvas - 2017 - by Greg Mason Burns. Imago Mundi Project - Scotland Collection I noted late in 2017 that the Luciano Benetton Imago Mundi project asked me to participate in it's collection. A collection of artworks from every single nation on earth, each country has it's own collection. Some countries, such as the UK, have separate pages for the nations that exist within the UK. I am participating in the Scotland Collection. Each artist receives a canvas of the same size, and that's to make it easier to store and exhibit all the different artworks. The artist...

December 13, 2017

Greg

Fiscal Sponsorship for Artists

Why do we have fiscal sponsorship for artists? Anyone remember Piss Christ by Andres Serrano? Yeah, that one - the one where Serrano received about $20,000 in tax-payer money to create art. In my mind, nothing wrong with that - he's an artist who had a provocative photograph, and that's pretty normal in contemporary art - but there were several conservative politicians who did take exception and, as luck would have it, these politicians managed to change how the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) would distribute tax dollars to artists. [caption id="attachment_2964" align="alignright" width="145"] Immersion (Piss Christ) by Andres Serrano (Image...

November 6, 2017

Greg

Abstract Minimalist Portraits

I haven't done a Kickstarter proejct for a while, mostly because I'm just not the kind of artist who needs a lot of "one-off" projects fulfilled. My most pressing need at the moment is studio space, and I've been working on my Patreon page to get me to a point where I can have on-gong long-term relationships that help me create art on a regular basis. However, when I saw that Kickstarter was going to be doing a Commissions project, I knew that this type of project would work well for me on that platform. The project is specifically about...

November 5, 2017

Greg

Southwest Harbor Exhibit Opening Night

About that Southwest Harbor exhibit opening night! What a week it's been. Being busy isn't even the word. Despite all the happenings leading up to opening night, the hanging, reception, and artist talk at the Southwest Harbor Public Library (Abstract Ideas, Art You Can Imagine) all went off without a hitch. I had about 10 people come, with about five coming early expecting the talk to begin at 5:30 instead of at 7:00. That's my fault, as I wasn't clear about the talk's time. Still, the exhibit looks good. Twenty-seven pieces hanging throughout. I'm pretty happy with that, and how...

September 22, 2017

Greg

Abstract Ideas. Art You Can Imagine

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...

June 26, 2017

Greg

Why Artists Should Sign Their Work

[caption id="attachment_2989" align="alignleft" width="300"] Color Study of Ponte 25 de Abril[/caption] 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...

March 31, 2017

Greg

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 the...

January 26, 2017

Greg

Zaratan Residency: The Final Weekend

[caption id="attachment_3213" align="alignright" width="300"] In an unknown container in an unknown location with an unknown arrival date.[/caption] 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...

January 25, 2017

Greg

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 Zaratan staff. Most...