Mark Burt
Through The Dark Place
December 9, 2017 - January 6, 2018
OPENING: Saturday, December 9, 7-10 PM
|
December 9 - January 6
Ro2 Art |
Ro2 Art is pleased to present ‘Through the Dark Place,’ a solo exhibition featuring new works by artist Mark Burt. The show will run from December 9, 2017 through January 6, 2018. There will be an opening reception held Saturday, December 9, from 7-10 p.m. at Ro2 Art, located at 1501 S. Ervay Street in Dallas’ Cedars neighborhood.
Mark Burt is known for the highly imaginative creatures and otherworldly realms that he creates. Burt’s upcoming show Through the Dark Place serves to expand on his carefully crafted world which is inhabited by vaguely humanoid creatures called Mungawomps. Desperately searching for happiness in a desolate and uncertain world known as the Dark Place, the Mungawomps are faced with plentiful distractions, or Cuddle Doobies, that keep them from achieving their goals. Cuddle Doobies are plant-like creatures that represent the frivolous distractions that are so prevalent in everyday life – sound familiar? However alluring the Cuddle Doobies may seem, the Mungawomps must keep on trudging through the Dark Place in order to achieve true happiness. Burt asserts that his work adapts to the perspective of the observer, encouraging viewers to project their own dreams and distractions onto these fascinating creatures. In Through the Dark Place, Burt presents a much more tangible view of his fantastic world by staging hand-painted, costumed actors alongside his felted Cuddle Doobie sculptures to portray the Mungawomps in desolate landscapes. Burt’s exciting new experimentations and methods bring the Dark Place to life in a revealing light, blurring the line between what is human and what is Mungawomp. |
|
ARTIST
Mark Burt |
C. Mark Burt is an artist and mentor from Bossier City, Louisiana where he creates pieces of an alternate realm using various means. Mark’s works vary in material, but all are amalgamations inspired by his mentors, his friends, and his competition.
After spending his formative years creating doodles influenced by the sci-fi movies of his childhood, Mark decided to truly hone in on his skills during his time under the tutelage of artists, including Lee Baxter Davis, at East Texas State University. There, using inspiration from artists like Albrecht Dürer, cartoonist Basil Wolverton, and British artist Lucian Freud, he began his artistic journey. A friendly sort of competition was born during his time in Texas, and it is his colleagues and friends who push him to go further into his artistic endeavors. Burt fell into a group of creators who were drafting their own universes through the narrative of their works, and his creations followed suit. They would later become unofficial members of the Lizard Cult, a collective of artists from the East Texas area. After his time in East Texas, Mark came back to Shreveport-Bossier City where he now teaches Visual Arts at Talented Arts Program in Bossier City and occasionally mentors younger artists. He also has a studio in Shreveport at Red Handed Tattoo parlor where he works studiously on his visceral illustrations, paintings, and sculptures. |
|
ARTIST STATEMENT
|
The sculptures and illustrations I create are studies of the otherworldly creatures that are ever changing, ever reforming, and ever metamorphosing according to the psyche of whoever is viewing them.
The Mungawomps are the people I’ve created who live in what we’ll call the Dark Place, and they are humanoid in nature and very closely resemble us, albeit with a very alien appearance. They are representative of us which is why I’ve created some of them as masks that you can physically wear. The Cuddle Doobies, which I have sort of affectionately named them, are the plants and wildlife of this reality, but they are structural in nature so that they can inhabit the real world in our homes or offices as well. They are always changing, which is why they can exist as these brain-like clumps, as tree-like structures, or even as beings that are more designed. Everything here is in a constant state of flux, and I am observing everything change as viewers pass through. The Mungawomps are also like us in the way that they are searching for happiness in what is a desolate uncertain plane, and in this search, they are faced with many distractions. These are the Cuddle Doobies, as they represent the frivolous and fluffy distractions that comfort us in our real lives. But the Mungawomps must keep trudging through the Dark Place, avoiding the Cuddle Doobies in order to reach their ultimate goal of finding true happiness, which is what we’re ultimately all chasing in life. Just as the distractions and frivolities in our lives can bring us to our detriment, the flora and fauna of the Dark Place bring the Mungawomps to their demise, or at least act as a barrier to the completion of their journey. What one Mungawomp sees in a Cuddle Doobie varies compared to the next one, just as our desires and comforts vary in us from person to person. This is why they, as well as the entirety of the Dark Place, are always changing, because one person’s reality is never the same as another person’s. It is the journey itself, and the hardships endured, that bring us to our happiness and successes in life, so the Mungawomps must avoid the comfort of what is near to them and keep going. Our journeys are all different, so neither the beings nor the plants of this world have a definite form. This reality isn’t so much created by me as it is constructed according to the viewer’s interpretation, and it is very psychological in that way. My work is very much open to interpretation, so much so that I am not the creator but more like the observer, watching as the viewers identify with the Mungawomps and indulge in the comforts of the Cuddle Doobies in different ways that correspond with their own real-life journeys. |
