Andy Burgess, Eric Firestone Gallery, Tuscon - Get What You Want

Andy Burgess: Get What You Want 
Eric Firestone Gallery, Tuscon, AZ 
January 23 - February 21, 2010

ANDY BURGESS

Coast to Coast, 2009

Oil on Panel, 16”h x 20”w

© Andy Burgess, courtesy of Eric Firestone Gallery, Tuscon

Get What You Want is the first one-man exhibition in the United States for Andy Burgess. The exhibition focuses on jazzy paintings and the small-scale collages they are fueled by. Andy Burgess is a Tucson and London based artist who is an avid collector of graphic ephemera from the “golden age” of American graphic design. Concentrating on the years between 1930 and 1950, Andy Burgess employs matchbooks and other ephemera that possess strong graphic impact in their pattern, typography and color. The disparate items are then unapologetically deconstructed – cut up into tiny pieces and reconstructed into visual poems that simultaneously dazzle as multi-colored pop art pieces. The tiny collages then expand through a translation of brush and paint into very active allover compositions. Intricate in the manner of Islamic mosaic and Navajo design, the works are a fine balance of jewel-like color, rich texture and dynamic pattern. It is however, the artist’s unique treatment of each, together and alone, that allows them an escape into the realm of the exotic while pervading the memory and remaining very familiar.

ANDY BURGESS

Origin, 2009

Oil on Panel, 16”h x 20”w

© Andy Burgess, courtesy of Eric Firestone Gallery, Tuscon

Andy Burgess embraces the notion of nostalgia in all he creates. His influences are varied, yet Andy Burgess brings them together seamlessly – the freedom and experimentation of the American beat poets and pop artists getting harnessed by the hard line geometries and color theories of early constructivist and Bauhaus artists and thinkers. Get What You Want is the fabric of everyday Americana channeled through long standing European traditions. The resulting works are truly timeless.

ANDY BURGESS was born in London, England in 1969. Burgess holds a BA degree in Politics and Parliamentary Studies from Leeds University and a BA degree in Fine Art from Byam Shaw School of Art. Andy Burgess’ collages and paintings have been exhibited widely through international art fairs and exclusively in London with The Cynthia Corbett Gallery. Andy Burgess lives inTucson, AZ and maintains studios in London and Tucson.

ERIC FIRESTONE GALLERY
403 North 6th Avenue, Tucson, Arizona 85701
www.ericfirestonegallery.com