Demetri Burke American, b. 1998

Demetri Burke’s practice is diverse and fluid, never fully standing still for too long. Burke focuses intensely on the black figure, building layer after layer to create murky images of nostalgia through a Southern lens. Each work is unified in its intimacy with the viewer: amalgamations of motifs and thoughts on the depiction of Blackness and the narratives that wrestle with trauma and affection pervade the composition.

Utilizing oil paint, charcoal, and found images, Burke expresses compelling narratives of identity and culture on canvas. Abstraction, montage, and realistic rendering are key parts of his creative process, leaning on constant examination of cultural nuances that become visible in his findings. Burke obtained a BFA Degree in Studio Art from Georgia State University. In 2022, he debuted his first solo exhibition, And Then We Heard the Thunder.

Demetri states, “I use mixed media to express narratives of identity and culture on canvas. There is a concentration on the medium of oil paint within a range that includes  charcoal, acrylic, printmaking, and collage. From there, I am depicting   portraiture abstracted or dramatized in a Black southern landscape. Pulling from my own environment people, peers and their silhouettes are being reflected by my paint brush in various moods of triumph, wistfulness, and melancholy. Poses range focusing on their face at times and other times detailing their full body in stripped back interiors and exteriors.

The paintings are usually done in an act that exposes my own hand as an artist. Surfaces appear raw, pencil marks are left, fingerprints create ghost impressions on the picture plane. The portraiture aspect is ever in transition teetering between fully rendered figures into bodies composed of more expressive strokes. There is a focus on texture and an attention to the material letting paint thinner and other solvents react within the depiction washing away and building up the subject simultaneously. Collage elements include found materials and images, discarded surfaces from previous artworks, and substances invoking themes of childhood, e.g. construction paper and glitter.

This aspect adds into building up the surface creating dimension onto the 2-dimensional plane. The palette for my work has a muted spectrum of desaturated twilight colors, referencing my own familiar scenery, to blacks, whites, and sepia tones. Juxtaposition is all throughout my art practice and is vital to the construction of the image and the storytelling aspect of the work itself. The narratives I am interested in are chronicling the everyday lived  experiences of people and developing snapshots of their psyche and  enchantment at that moment. Characters painted are on a journey of  contemplation and solitude. They take on aspects of desire and assertiveness up against worlds filled with uncertainty. They are posed as non-heroes, martyrs, wisemen, sirens, pallbearers, and lovers. They have an intimate relationship with magic and at the same time will say it's not real. They are my constant examination of my upbringing and current life.”