Archives

“The show’s scene-stealer, for me, was the work of Richmond-based “collections artist” Caryl Burtner, the centerpiece of whose work — contained in five three-ring binders so humble a visitor might easily overlook them — consists of photographs and photocopies recording the provenance of every aspirin, blouse, bed linen, glove and shampoo bottle the artist has used, going back almost 30 years. It’s a tour-de-force example of performance art, stark in its everyday simplicity, yet with the power of a ton of feathers (not bricks).


“The show’s scene-stealer, for me, was the work of Richmond-based “collections artist” Caryl Burtner, the centerpiece of whose work — contained in five three-ring binders so humble a visitor might easily overlook them — consists of photographs and photocopies recording the provenance of every aspirin, blouse, bed linen, glove and shampoo bottle the artist has used, going back almost 30 years. It’s a tour-de-force example of performance art, stark in its everyday simplicity, yet with the power of a ton of feathers (not bricks).

“Stunning in its labor-intensive — no, make that obsessive-compulsive — nuttiness, Burtner’s art makes Rieck [the $10,000 prize winner] and others in the show look like pikers. Still, The Caryl Burtner Archives, as they’re called, are not without a sense of humor. They disturb and delight in equal measure.”

Michael O’Sullivan on the Trawick Prize, The Washington Post

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