Bruce Burris
Friends of Foes
Jan 19–Feb 28, 2021
MARCH is pleased to present Friends of Foes, an exhibition of recent works by Oregon-based artist and activist Bruce Burris. Timed to open the day before our new president takes office, the exhibition engages an uncertain world where politics and reality are shaped by misinformation, truly fake news, and a highly divided nation. In these new paintings, Burris has taken the physical language of this moment and stacked rendered versions of its words and phrases like building blocks to create absurd and beautiful meditations on the present.
Burris has long been engaged in literal forms of protest, chiefly as an advocate for neurodiverse artists, and organized academic programs, sit-ins, protests, and other community initiatives to address accessibility and other basic human rights issues that disproportionately affect artists with disabilities. In his drawings, however, Burris’ tactics eschew all reason and practical progress. He instead combines the absurd realities of far-right, reactionary ideologies with protest culture, creating layered paintings of legible and ornate slogans, rallying cries, and instruction. Guns Save Lives! Ranchers Lives Matter! Patriots Prepare! These slogans would seem comical but for the current political realities of modern American life… read more
Bruce Burris, Welcome to Eastern State Hospital, 2020 (detail)
“Burris’ creative practices, like his politics, are complex, but without the cool irony that often accompanies an understanding of complexity. They are the works of an artist fully engaged, enraged, and committed to the world. This ultimately makes them hopeful works of art.”
– Jane McCafferty
Bruce Burris
Guns Save Lives, 2020
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
Bruce Burris
State Regulation, 2020
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
Installation view, Bruce Burris: Friends of Foes, MARCH x Summertime, New York, 2021
Bruce Burris
Welcome to Eastern State Hospital, 2020
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
Bruce Burris
Labor Day, 2020
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
Bruce Burris
Friendliest Manner, 2020
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
Bruce Burris
We Will Be Glad to Answer Questions That Might Come Up During Treatment, 2020
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
Bruce Burris, Climate Change Commies, 2020 (detail)
“Like many people of a certain age whose formative years (the 60s) were spent during a time of social uprising, Burris brings that time’s idealism with him into maturity. Yet he is careful to avoid any particular ideological echo chamber, instead applying a rigor in his thought and deed, and does so because he wants to thoroughly represent both sides of an issue, all to ask a bigger historical question: How did we get to this point?”
– Patrick Collier
Bruce Burris
Climate Change Commies, 2020
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
Bruce Burris
Perverse Climate Morality, 2020
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
Bruce Burris
Girls and Guns, 1997
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
Bruce Burris
Hospital Promises, 2020
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
Installation view, Bruce Burris: Friends of Foes, MARCH x Summertime, New York, 2021
Bruce Burris
Stop the Steal, 2020
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
Bruce Burris
Totalitarian Tiptoe, 2020
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
Bruce Burris, And Whose Treatment Needs, 2020 (detail)
Bruce Burris
Friends of Foes
Jan 19–Feb 28, 2021
MARCH is pleased to present Friends of Foes, an exhibition of recent works by Oregon-based artist and activist Bruce Burris. Timed to open the day before our new president takes office, the exhibition engages an uncertain world where politics and reality are shaped by misinformation, truly fake news, and a highly divided nation. In these new paintings, Burris has taken the physical language of this moment and stacked rendered versions of its words and phrases like building blocks to create absurd and beautiful meditations on the present.
Burris has long been engaged in literal forms of protest, chiefly as an advocate for neurodiverse artists, and organized academic programs, sit-ins, protests, and other community initiatives to address accessibility and other basic human rights issues that disproportionately affect artists with disabilities. In his drawings, however, Burris’ tactics eschew all reason and practical progress. He instead combines the absurd realities of far-right, reactionary ideologies with protest culture, creating layered paintings of legible and ornate slogans, rallying cries, and instruction. Guns Save Lives! Ranchers Lives Matter! Patriots Prepare! These slogans would seem comical but for the current political realities of modern American life.
Friends of Foes is organized in collaboration with Summertime, non-profit 501(c)3 art studio and gallery that connects neurodiverse artists with the people and world around them. The exhibition is further supported in part by the Ford Family Foundation and with funds from the Oregon Arts Commission.
Bruce Burris (b.1955, Wilmington, DE) is an artist, activist, and director of several community initiatives: Artworks – CEI, OUTPOST1000 and In Visible, that assist individuals with mental or emotional disabilities, many of whom are artists themselves. Burris’s practice stems from observations of class and philosophical divides. He has exhibited throughout the US, including the Portland2016 Biennial, curated by Michelle Grabner and presented by Disjecta Contemporary Art Center. Burris has been awarded fellowships or awards from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the Hallie Ford Foundation, the Kentucky State Arts Council, the Delaware State Arts Council, the NEA-SAF, Puffin Foundation and Vermont Studio Center. His work is included in numerous public and private collections including the University of Kentucky Art Museum. Burris attended the San Francisco Art Institute and Nasson College.
Friends of Foes is on view at Summertime from January 19–February 28, 2021.
Summertime
145 Ainslie Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Gallery hours: Thursday–Saturday from 12–6 PM and by appointment.
For more information: info@marchgallery.org
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Bruce Burris
Guns Save Lives, 2020
Acrylic, marker, and graphite on paper
22 x 15 inches
Inquire
Bruce Burris
State Regulation, 2020
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
Inquire
Bruce Burris
Welcome to Eastern State Hospital, 2020
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
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Bruce Burris
Labor Day, 2020
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
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Bruce Burris
Friendliest Manner,2020
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
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Bruce Burris
We Will Be Glad to Answer Questions That Might Come Up During Treatment,2020
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
Inquire
Bruce Burris
Climate Change Commies, 2020
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
Inquire
Bruce Burris
Perverse Climate Morality, 2020
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
Inquire
Bruce Burris
Girls and Guns, 1997
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
Inquire
Bruce Burris
Hospital Promises, 2020
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
Inquire
Bruce Burris
Stop the Steal, 2020
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
Inquire
Bruce Burris
Totalitarian Tiptoe, 2020
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
Inquire
Bruce Burris
And Whose Treatment Needs, 2020
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches
Inquire
Bruce Burris
We Strive to Make Our Services…, 2020
Acrylic, tempera, watercolor, marker, graphite, and spray paint on paper
22 x 15 inches