Masonry - Greg Mason Burns

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November 6, 2017

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...

January 14, 2017

Greg

Novo-Surrealism Artist Talk at Zaratan

[caption id="attachment_5102" align="alignright" width="233"] Zaratan Arte Contemporanea: Novo-Surrealism Artist Talk[/caption] 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...

January 12, 2017

Greg

Collaboration: Zaratan by Greg Mason Burns and Daniel Gawronski

[caption id="attachment_3010" align="alignleft" width="240"] Daniel's Trees, as drawn simply by me as a visual example[/caption] I recently did a residency in Lisbon, Portugal and while there I met the other artist-in-residence, Daniel Gawronski. Daniel is an Australian artist who works primarily with sound art. His method is interesting in that he takes images from the natural environment and uses those to map musical compositions. We both attended the residency at Zaratan Arte Contemporanea in Lisbon, but this collaboration was an accident. For the audio, Gawronski used a photograph of trees from a forest Sintra, Portugal, outside Lisbon, to create a music scale....

April 25, 2016

Greg

Redefining The Surreal (Novo-Surrealism)

[caption id="attachment_3015" align="alignleft" width="282"] Redefining the Surreal: What does the gap look like?[/caption] While some of my work may have a hint of Surrealism in it, I am not a Surrealist by definition. And yet I feel as if I am a Surrealist in spirit and maybe by nature as well. To start, I care nothing of dreams and the contradiction between them and real life. This, shown with great realism, is the definition of Surrealism. However, there is a deeper meaning to Surrealism, and if André Breton was right in that Surrealism was a revolutionary movement then I certainly fit...

January 13, 2016

Greg

Beauty and Evolution: is Beauty a Defense Mechanism?

[caption id="attachment_3797" align="alignleft" width="208"] Beauty and Evolution: Definitely some evolved vices in this painting[/caption] Beauty and Evolution I can´t argue against this. Denis Dutton has a pretty convincing argument one way or another, but how true is it? His theory suggests that what we perceive as beauty is as evolved as our bodies are. He argues that the shape of a diamond is eerily similar to that of a pre-historic stone spearhead. Furthermore, these stones weren´t just made to kill animals but to show off abilities for the purpose of mating. Think about it, a man makes a stone not to kill,...

January 5, 2016

Greg

Telling the Truth in Art

[caption id="attachment_3250" align="aligncenter" width="1100"] A truth about flamenco is that it’s more commercial than it should be[/caption] Telling the Truth in Art Nothing irks me more in art than criticism that uses modern fashion as a justification for it's existence. In fact, if a piece of art is being criticized because the piece fails to follow modern fashionable conventions then the piece is very likely by definition "art". I don't say this meaning that art must or even should break conventions (I don't believe that at all). But art that conforms to prevailing fashions intentionally is missing something, and that missing piece...