Thomas Burke: APPEARANCES

March 6-May 2, 2021

Opening Reception Saturday, March 6, 3-9 pm

POMPEI is pleased to present Appearances, the latest work of the Boston-based painter Thomas Burke. 

On view across two rooms are large scale diamond-shaped paintings on aluminum panels made up of charged irregular symmetries, bold color gradients, and sweeping lines that keep the eye moving. Cultivating a sensation of disorientation, the compositions nearly push the viewer off balance.

Burke’s artwork begins in the computer, where improvised geometric grids and associative color experiments give way to endless tinkering and refinement. Arriving at an image he wants to pursue, the process moves to the studio, where he employs an elaborate and labor-intensive system of masking and airbrushing. Working deliberately, present in each step, Burke is inseparable from his work until the final moment when its masking is removed, at which point he can step back and see the full painting for the first time.

While utilizing technology, Burke is an otherwise traditional painter, working within the mid-century American geometric, hard-edge lineage. Growing up in Las Vegas, the radiant signage of the Vegas Strip – along with the vast, Western light of its skies and its extrovert car culture – informed his unconscious sensibilities. He was fortunate to attend the University of Nevada Las Vegas during the brief window known as The Las Vegas School, founded by Dave Hickey, which launched the careers of a group of neon pop abstractionists and helped develop a point of view on art that would later take Burke east to Skowhegan and New York.

It is particularly gratifying to exhibit this artwork at the site of its creation. Until November, Burke had long kept a studio adjacent to POMPEI. Watching him over this past year, seeing his process unfold and observing first hand his daily persistence, has been an inspiring and reaffirming lesson in stamina and vision. We are happy to introduce these paintings as our second show.

Thomas Burke grew up in Las Vegas, received his BFA from UNLV, and later attended Skowhegan. His work has been exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, and Paris, with previous solo exhibitions at Western Project (Los Angeles, CA) and Miles McEnery (New York, NY). He currently lives and works in Boston, MA. 

POMPEI is a creative project space and gallery founded by J Grabowski and Jacqueline Pompei.

POMPEI is open to the public Saturdays and Sundays, 12-5 pm, and Monday-Friday, by appointment. Masks are required in the gallery at all times.