Demetri Burke American, b. 1998
"In many ways they seem to illustrate a clash between a world of lived experience and an alternate one that unfolds on canvas, one that can be controlled and conjured up like magic."
- Felicia Feaster
Demetri Burke's practice is a profound exploration of identity and culture, expressed through a diverse range of media including oil paint, charcoal, acrylic, printmaking, and collage. His work depicts abstracted or dramatized portraiture set against Black Southern landscapes, drawing from his environment to reflect the silhouettes of people and peers in moods of triumph, wistfulness, and melancholy. The paintings expose his hand as an artist, with raw surfaces, visible pencil marks, and ghostly fingerprints. Burke's portraiture transitions between fully rendered figures and expressive strokes, emphasizing texture and material interaction. Paint thinner and solvents simultaneously wash away and build up the subject, while collage elements such as construction paper and glitter evoke themes of childhood, adding dimension to the two-dimensional plane.
Burke's muted twilight palette, featuring desaturated colors, blacks, whites, and sepia tones, mirrors his familiar scenery. Juxtaposition is vital to his art practice, constructing images and storytelling. His narratives chronicle everyday lived experiences, capturing snapshots of psyche and enchantment. Characters, depicted as non-heroes, martyrs, wise men, sirens, pallbearers, and lovers, navigate worlds of contemplation and solitude, embodying desire and assertiveness against uncertainty. Through his work, Burke continually examines his upbringing and contemporary life, presenting figures that navigate worlds of contemplation and solitude, embodying both the magic and reality of their existence.
