Project #1
Published September 21st, 2007Karl Burke
29th September to 20th October 2007
This was the first commissioned project to be exhibited at Commonplace Amateur Projects, Studio One, 10 Burgh Quay, Dublin. The back catalogue of all wors in edition is available through visiting studio one by appointment or by emailing commonplaceprojects@gmail.com to receive a pdf price list with illustrations of all of the artworks in the back catalogue.
Biography
Karl Burke is an interdisciplinary artist and active musician whose practice includes sculpture, sound, installation works, photography and film. Exhibiting both nationally and internationally, his work is concerned with our relationship to and perceptions of our three dimensional world endeavouring to form a physical and emotive relationship between the art object, space/place and the viewer.
Visual
‘wooden drawings’
A current body of work ‘wooden drawings’ involves the placement of uniform lengths of processed wood in various situations in a particular environment, specifically in relation to different aspects of that landscape or space. To date a prominent landscape for these installations has been a forest situated in County Sligo.
These three dimensional interventions endeavor to form a physical and emotive relationship between the art object, space/place and in particular the viewer. It is my intention to subtly cause the viewer to take account of his/her surroundings, natural or architectural. I wish to not just draw attention to the art object but to focus on the spaces/places that surround us, to take stock of the world that envelops us. The material used for this work is basic 3 by 2 wood (as used in the construction trade) cut to manageable lengths and sourced locally. The works titled ‘wooden drawings’ are not fixed with nails or any other fixing material which allows me to be very fluid allowing the work to act as a three dimensional notebook tracing the time I have spent at a site
Due to the temporal nature of Burkes work, the lasting effect has become the photographic image. This is now a very important part of the process of Burkes practice and has reached significance in some recent exhibitions where the photographs have been shown alongside site-specific installations.
Sound
Burke also practices as a musician under the name Karl Him and released his critically acclaimed debut album ‘Electronic Laments’, on the Spitroast Label in 2002. His music can be described as acoustic, ambient electronic. He has also recently composed music and soundscapes for the acclaimed Irish theatre company Loose Canon.
‘The Forest Project’ - a sound and music work - as part of the exhibition ‘your position as much as your environment’, took place in the Model Niland Gallery in Sligo and ‘Union Woods’, (a forest in County Sligo) respectively. This project was inspired and influenced by the uniqueness of place. In this case, a forest. The objective, to make soundworks and music for and from these forested environments included a performance in the gallery followed by a sound piece and performance in said forest. An audio cd will be released at a later date and will feature works of music, soundscapes and found compositions inspired by this unique place, creating a sonic diary of time and place.