His last series of work deliberately suggested a conglomeration of colored lines and shapes might be a person in profile. His new series expands figurative abstraction in both scope and size. Explaining this shift in focus, Burckhardt says “It was a feeling that I was ready to make the previous paintings, which seemed individually head-like (a covid-era solitariness) into more complex works that described relationships of persona.” He adds that adapting to working on a larger surface was surprisingly easy, “I kind of play-acted the role of a ‘Big Works’ painter until it came true. I found I scaled easily and it felt very natural.”
Burckhardt grew up in a renowned artistic family. His father was Swiss-born photographer and filmmaker Rudy Burckhardt, who was known for his photographs of the hand-painted billboards of the 1940’s and 50’s. Burckhardt’s mother was painter, print-maker and educator Yvonne Jacquette, who created elaborately detailed, intensely colored aerial landscapes and had a distinct pointillist technique. Already transitioning to larger works, Burckhardt’s change of scale was also influenced by his mother’s unexpected death last April. Jacquette painted on linen rolls tacked to her studio walls. While working on Ulterior Motif, Burckhardt decided to use the remaining linen rolls and paint tubes from her studio.
“I claim that it was a rather practical influence: free paint and linen!” said Burckhardt “I was conscious of the need to lower the stakes if I raise the scale.” Because using larger canvases is more expensive, removing the initial expense of pre-stretching all the canvases helped Burckhardt “Feel free to make mistakes and not worry about these large stretched works, with the investment of money and space,” he said. “So for the first time, I worked with the linen just tacked on the wall, (something my mom did…) figuring I can invest in the stretchers for the ones that work out. I claim I did these things not for sentimental reasons relating to my mom…. I’m probably not fooling anyone on that. Seriously, she was so motivated as an artist and I get that from her.”