On View: February 9 – March 4, 2016
Location: Voltz Clarke Gallery, 141 East 62nd Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10065

Voltz Clarke is pleased to debut Garland of Skulls, a solo-exhibition of new paintings by Christina Burch (American).

Gathering inspiration from Italian and Japanese Aesthetics, the artist uses the skull motif as a recurring theme throughout her ongoing series entitled Garland of Skulls. At times hidden, the skull image points to impermanence and enlightened awareness beyond birth and death. Burch anchors her imagery in symbolic logic and fantasy, indicative of the enlightened mind. Her canvases expand upon the teachings of Buddhist philosophy within a contemporary context. Resulting in works that are characterized by a sense of magical realism and suprasensual.

Through a suite of nine canvases, Burch reconciles her inclinations towards contemporary art and her Eastern philosophical education. She lends historical and mythological contexts to her figurations with anthropomorphism and verdant natural imagery. In a manner indicative of the Japanese Ukiyo-e woodblock prints, her flattened stylizations are activated by the luminous color and the visual acuity with which she anchors her composition.

Born in Manhattan in 1972, Burch grew up in Nashville, Tennessee and began oil painting at the age of eight. She received a B.F.A. in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design and traveled extensively in Europe and Asia, completing her Masters in Painting at New York University in 1998. Further pursuing her interest in energy and the corporeal form, she later studied Acupuncture and Classical Chinese Medicine. This understanding of energy and embodiment has been influential in her recent works, which contemplate the sensual, poetic dimension of figuration in painting. After fourteen years in New York City, Burch relocated to Ann Arbor, Michigan in 2009 where she currently works and resides.

The exhibition will run February 9th through March 4th, 2016.
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