The
fine line which separates figuration and abstraction
underpins this work. A close relationship with the Pembrokeshire
Coast has provoked a large and ongoing series of paintings.
Paint in fact, is a major concern in itself. Process,
is integral, both in painting terms as well as ‘within’
the landscape. The concept of space, both actual and
pictorial; implications of time and place; issues within
movement, weather and light; alongside gesture, glimpse
and memory are requisite themes within these paintings.
Painting is thinking; it is a presentation
of what you do not know as well as what you do know.
‘Touch’ within these paintings is crucial.
“Painting
is an Art, and Art is not vague production, transitory
and isolated, but a power which must be directed to
the improvement and refinement of the human soul”.
Kandinsky.
'I believe very strongly that painting is the most primitive
and central of responses I can make, to the world around
me. The 'spiritual' within what I do as a painter, is
the common denominator within my creativity. It doesn't
matter, on reflection, whether the work is concerned
with the urban; New York, or the rural; Pembrokeshire,
these subject matters are just one of many reasons for
making paintings. There has to be another response to
these works other than a simple recognition of time
and place. They have to be more primeval than that,
they have to 'touch' you. I aspire to a painting which
communicates to everyone, whether you know Pembrokeshire
or not. It’s our genetic make-up, it’s being
human, being alive to the world, that I wish to tap
into. They're about being human, and the act of creativity.
They are about contemplation, they have to be sensed
as well as experienced, they are physical paintings.
The 'spiritual' response and purpose is central.'
Brendan Stuart Burns
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