New Concerns,
Rachael J. Burke

Drama and Melodrama series,
Rachael J. Burke

I use representational subjects to create an emotional situation, an enigmatic narrative or fictional painting. The artificially staged figures, the tension between surface and volume, figure and ground helps to assert the abstractness of the elements and the autonomy of the paint. I use color that underscores the theatricality and an abstract expressionist approach to best support the internal drama, the humanity and emotional connectedness of the players. The negative spaces are a less distinct combination of perception, association and creation. In summary, my process engages abstract formal structures with overall narrative implications.

More specifically, I first gather thousands of images that I often use in more than one drama. When I use the same model and pose in a new format or stage, I feel like a director who rehires the performer for a similar role but very different context. Instead of being a voyeur, I select a player to represent my presence, male or female. Secondly, I arrange and rearrange the gestures using gestural sketches. I don’t use refined finished drawings for reference because I choose to leave room for improvisation and intuition. I thrive on the unexpected and unplanned reactions and perceptions that occur during the building of a painting.

In conclusion, I find that I stop working when all players appear significant to, and engaged in the battle, conflict, trauma, etc. and the piece conveys the attitude and sense of aliveness, flux and continuation that is most appealing to my sensibility. The attitude I refer to is an underlying boiling, brewing, palpable energy that leans towards eruption, collision or combustion, more continuous than final.