![]() |
|
| Home | Gallery | Recent Work | Workshops | Biography | Contact | |
|
In 2008 the figurative artist completed his first retrospective exhibition at the Victorian Artists Society in East Melbourne. It had been his first Melbourne show in thirty-six years and ranged from 1975 till the present. The nine panel ' Bluebeard's Castle ' - a free adaptation of Bela Bartok's 1918 opera - was seen for the first time in it's entirety. As the artist reflected before the exhibition, "It's all there, of course, the tears, the laughter and the whole mad giddying ride". He had previously exhibited in Melbourne in 1972 at the Warehouse Galleries in Richmond and, according to some, provided one of the most memorable and notorious openings of the time. John then moved to Europe and lived for twelve years in the Catalan village of Ortedo, deep in the Spanish Pyrenees, exhibiting in Barcelona during the dying days of the Franco regime. He later showed in Amsterdam and Munich, exhibiting with Dali, Vasarely, Magritte and Fontana before a critically acclaimed exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum, Alkmaar. Despite forthcoming contracted exhibitions, family circumstances meant a reluctant return to Australia. Through the mid-eighties and nineties he moved into book illustration and became involved with art education in schools. Over the last four years John has returned to full-time art. His upcoming exhibitions include a second showing of the complete ' Bluebeard's
Castle ' series at the Kingston Arts Centre on the 23rd of April 2010.
It is to be followed by a selection of new work at the Jackman Gallery
in St.Kilda from the 16th of June through to the 4th of July, 2010. The opening is kindly sponsored by Silverwood Wines of the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
|
|
|||||
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
| 00170 All images copyright © 2008 by John Burge Art. All Rights Reserved |