2.15.2010

Artist to Know - Alberto Burri

Today's artist creates with materials that was considered unorthodox during his time, but maybe not today. His abstract art has wonderful texture, color, and shape and can inspire new designs and ideas.


Alberto Burri (1915 - 1995)

Burri earned a medical degree in 1940 and was a military physician during World War II. After his unit was captured he was interned in a prisoner-of-war camp in Hereford, Texas in 1944, where he began to paint.



Burri soon turned to abstraction and unorthodox materials, making collages with pumice, tar, and burlap.



In the mid-1950s, Burri began producing charred wood and burlap works, then welded iron sheets. In the early 1960s he was burning plastic, and in the early 1970s started his "cracked" paintings, or cretti. He created a series of works in the industrial material, Cellotex, from 1979 through the 1990s.



In the 1980s, Burri created a land art project on the town of Gibellina in Sicily. The town was abandoned following an earthquake in 1968. Burri covered most of the old town, with white concrete. He called this the Grande Cretto.
There are lots of sites with information on Alberto Burri check out Google for more information.

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5 comments:

  1. Wow, these are fantastic! Truly a unique perspective.

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  2. I have never heard of Burri but his work is stunning. Thanks for posting :)

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  3. I recently read about his work and I love it, so I had to share. I Love the colors, textures, and how a simple ideas could look so complex. His work is very inspiring.

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  4. Fascinating. I don't recall having heard of Burri before (my last art history class was ages ago, and much of it has left my head.) but his work looks really neat. Thanks!

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  5. Very interesting post, his work is beautiful, I love the colors. Thank you for sharing this information :]

    Found you through the Etsy blog forums.
    Best wishes,
    Chelsea, islapink
    http://www.pixelcouture.net

    ReplyDelete

Your thoughts and ideas are an important part of the conversation, thanks for sharing!