Tom Burckhardt’s “Book Covers” and Christopher Keister’s “Cosmic Lollipop” at Aucocisco Galleries in November


PORTLAND, MAINE—The painter and sculptor Tom Burckhardt may have been born in New York, but his Maine roots run deep. A 1986 graduate of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Burckhardt now splits his time between his home in New York City and a home in Searsmont, Maine.

Aucocisco Galleries is honored to announce “Book Covers,” the first Maine showing of Burckhardt’s work in more than a decade and a half. This fact alone is cause for celebration.

Showing simultaneously with Burckhardt, Aucocisco will feature a series of minimalist circle paintings by Peaks Island-based artist Christopher Keister entitled “Cosmic Lollipop.” Like Burckhardt, Keister also attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.

Keister’s entrancing paintings will create a conversation between the formal and informal aspects of his and Burckhardt’s work.

For Burckhardt, “Book Covers” marks a return of sorts to painting. Most recently, his shows in New York City have played at mixing the two-dimensional with three-dimensional components:

Burckhardt’s 2006 show “Full Stop” found the artist working exclusively with cardboard and black paint to create full-scale replicas of an artist’s studio. In 2008, Burckhardt continued to explore this theme with “Slump,” pairing his paintings with meticulously built three-dimensional sculptural vignettes of items commonly found in an artists’ studio, such as paint cans, crates, and ladders.

At the time, Burckhardt explained these sculptural excursions as a way to “reignite my love of the act of painting.” With “Book Covers,” Burckhardt’s passion for painting appears fully ablaze.

The thirteen vibrant paintings in the series manage to feel both playful and considered. Each acrylic and colored pencil piece is executed on the inside of actual reclaimed book cover. Burckhardt’s gift for colliding representational components with purely graphic elements is in peak form and , as usual, the work eludes any easy pigeonholing—we only see glimpses of influence: swirls from Surrealism, exaggerated Pop Art dots and stripes, and nods to the New York School and to the minimalists. Ripe with references to artist’s palettes and blank canvases, “Book Covers” feels like Burckhardt’s love letters to the act of painting.

The recipient of many awards, Burckhardt has twice received grants from the Pollack-Krasner Foundatin, and was just recently awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is the son of revered artists Yvonne Jacquette and Rudy Burckhardt.

Keister continues to gain attention and significant praise for his hypnotic paintings. He has become a regular, stalwart contributor to two of Maine’s most praised exhibitions: the Portland Museum of Art Biennial (2003, 2007), and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art Juried Biennial Exhibition (2004, 2008).

The series “Cosmic Lollipop” reflects the influence that reading science fiction literature has had on Keister over the past year. “The information gathered from such written material came to act as an outline for the series,” says the artist. “I view the drawings as maps and representations of concepts that I encountered in the texts.”

In addition to “Cosmic Lollipop,” Keister is also currently appearing in a successful group installation, “Point of Connection,” in the North Dam in Biddeford; the project was made possible by the Maine Arts Commission.


Tom Burckhardt “Book Covers”
&
Christopher Keister “Cosmic Lollipop”

Reception: Friday, November 6, 5:00 – 8:00 PM
Showing: November 6 - November 28, 2009


Contact:
Aucocisco Galleries
Andres A. Verzosa
Owner/Director

Physical: 89 Exchange Street
P.O Box 4111
Portland, ME 04101

Mail: P.O. Box 7897
Portland, Maine 04112

Phone: 207.775.2222
Email: director@aucocisco.com
Website: www.aucocisco.com

Gallery Hours:
Tuesday – Saturday, 11:00am to 6:00pm, and by appointment.

October 2009