Recently awarded a Creative Wales Major Award by the Arts Council of Wales, internationally-renowned artist Brendan Stuart Burns presents his first solo exhibition in London with intimate studies in oil and wax on linen, which explore the fine line between figuration and abstraction. Burn’s work mainly focuses on the ecology of the Pembrokeshire coast in Wales, a dramatic coastline which also inspired Graham Sutherland in the 1930s and the work of John Craxton.

Burn’s work evokes the craggy beauty of the Welsh shoreline, observing lichen-covered rock pools, the powerful inflow and outflow of coastal tides, curling winds, vegetation on the water’s edge, and shimmering light touching the delicate bubbles of the sea. His practice is multi-disciplinary, encompassing painting, drawing, photography and ceramics; this last style is particularly unique, as sheets of porcelain are taken outside of the studio. Here they are pressed onto the landscape or into rock crevices before being painted and fired, cut into segments or ribbons of delicate ceramic shapes. These works are exhibited alongside large scale paintings and drawings. A catalogue and short film detailing Burns’ methodology are also available to buy.

Brendan Stuart Burns: Gesture, Glimpse, Memory, until 14 March, Osborne Samuel, 23a Bruton Street, London W1J 6QG.

Find out more at www.osbornesamuel.com.

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Credits
1. Brendan Stuart Burns. Oil and wax on canvas. 2014. Courtesy of Osborne Samuel.