We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dennis Burke. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dennis below.

Hi Dennis, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

My research agenda is situated at the intersections of interdisciplinary methodology, contemporary art theory, and conceptual analysis. I am particularly interested in questions of image production; what it is, how it is constituted and reshaped, how people respond to and negotiate it – especially in contemporary contexts and under the condition of emerging technologies and new media study. While my approach to research and practice are strongly focused on contemporary theory as well as the digital epoch of our era, it is drawing and painting that forms the foundations of my individual understanding of creative activity, didactic ideology, and critical analysis. Being the vehicles of my induction into the realm of the artist, drawing and painting have a major role in my thinking and comprehension of what art is. Having laid the groundwork for my thinking and doing, these two disciplines can be found throughout my body of work. As the predominate and most consistent methodology in my practice and research, I incorporate these traditional acts of constituting an image with more contemporary and digital approaches to image production. Appropriated imagery (more specifically images from the internet, social media, and online platforms) expand my investigation and exploration of what it means to be an artist in today’s society, as well as where my art fits within the larger narrative of visual arts theory. Identity, the mediated image, constituted self, and diverse interpretations and representations of “self” make up the core of my research. Also included are theories of a “multiple self” and “coherent self”, as well as the “Theater of the Absurd” to compose a complex line of inquiry that asks – who am I, who are you, and who are we? To this end I am currently working on a series of paintings that incorporate appropriated images from the internet – abstracted through line, color, and form – exploring the significance of figurative painting in contemporary art and culture.
I am also interested in the interpretation of masculinity throughout cultural history and contemporary scholarship on male identity. Having worked on a project titled, “W.I.P. [Work in Progress]” that explores the visual interpretation of manual physical labor and building construction in the context of live performance, new media, and associations in mythology, I have had the opportunity to examine my own gender roles as well as my place in a culture that is constantly redefining sex, gender, and identity. I hope to continue producing work in this vein.I am also interested in the interpretation of masculinity and contemporary scholarship on male identity and conceptual representation. Having worked on a project titled, “W.I.P. [Work in Progress]” that examined the visual interpretation of physical labor and building construction in context of live performance, new media, and its associations in mythology. I have had the opportunity to examine my own gender roles as well as my place in a culture that is constantly redefining sex, gender, and identity. I hope to continue producing work in this vein.

Dennis, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I was born in Chicago, Illinois. My interest in the arts started at an early age. With encouragement from my family and my Italian grandmother, who also painted, I embarked on what would become a lifelong pursuit in the visual arts. Enrolling in local district classes for youths in basic drawing and art making, I would later on have the great opportunity and privilege to study Advanced Placement in Drawing and Independent Study in Studio Art with an amazing high school arts teacher who played a major role in my development as an artist and student. On a full arts scholarship, I earned a Bachelors in Fine Arts degree from Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois. I spent a year in Florence, Italy accepted into both the advanced painting and drawing programs at Lorenzo d’Medici, the Art Institute of Florence. I earned a Masters of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Arts and Media from Columbia College Chicago. Between my studies at Eastern and prior to Columbia, I spent two years studying at SAIC, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago earning a certificate in painting and drawing.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Dedicating one’s life to creative activity or art is possibly the greatest act of freedom any human being can engage in. For me, the activity of art is inherent in all of us. We are all artists. We may not all draw, paint, compose music, or construct objects – but we all participate in the “sculptural” act of thinking, of idea making. It is the act of thinking, of engaging in society with our beliefs and ideas that make us all artists. Every individual is contributing to what Joseph Beuys called “Social Sculpture”. Each and everyone of us is molding the environment around us (whether it be virtual or physical). Through the “sculpturing” of our thoughts and ideas we are impacting and molding the world around us. This is why I see art as the ultimate act of freedom.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the earliest lessons I have learned is that engaging in creativity and art are beneficial in so many ways beyond what is seen on the surface. It involves understanding of ourselves, of others, and of the world at large. It is not an easy task to embrace freedom (art and creativity) without trepidation. It means you accept your beliefs as valuable and beneficial to yourself and those around you. Embracing one’s own creativity, in whatever form it is transmitted, is the acceptance of self and others. It is the most important human characteristic that so many take for granted. When I personally accepted myself as an artist, I discovered a freedom and purpose that permeates every aspect of my being. While this lesson is so very important, it does not come without obstacles and hard work. In learning to embrace one’s creativity, you must also unlearn many of the predicated ideals and behaviors that are deeply engrained since youth. The greatest lesson an artist engages in is to learn to unlearn – to question everything – to critically reflect on one’s own beliefs, position, and perception of the world as a whole.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dennismburke.com

Image Credits
#1- Artist in live performance of painting execution #2 _ Performance/Interdisciplinary “Work.in.Progress: 4” – one of twelve performance works that translate my traditional practice of drawing and painting into performance. I dove off a 12’ ladder repeatedly in attempt to draw on a parcel of paper. #3 – painting “Blue Artist” – executed in undergraduate studies influenced by Pablo Picasso’s “Blue Guitarist” #4 – Performance/Interdisciplinary “Work.in.Progress: 7 – one of twelve performance works that translate my traditional practice of drawing and painting into performance. This work was primarily displayed through video – recording myself drawing the basic house image onto my torso repeatedly until there was no more space to draw #5 – installation/sculpture “Corporal Housing” – a “pop-up” installation at Columbia College that included three retractable vanity mirrors replaced with Astro turf and “Monopoly Houses” cast in both wax and cement