Carl Burmeister

Portfolio
Artist Statement
Online Information




Badd4 (about 10 cents flat)
Metal, wood, electronics, 21x12x17", ©2005





Functional Painting Scanner
Mixed media, 54x36x30", ©2007


Some of the things I think about when contemplating making art:

• our technological past, present, and future
  
• vibrations and oscillations
  
• the flow of energy from useable to unusable
  
• frames of reference, both physical and intellectual
  
• logic
  

Obscure or ambiguous technology, sound, and decay are recurring themes in my constructions. I intend for these objects to elicit curiosity about their purpose and history. They are at once representations of a concept and objects in and of themselves. Although the concept of human inspiration, ingenuity, and abandonment may prove ephemeral, a strong 'object presence' will remain. Even if they were to be utterly rejected as 'art objects' in the present, many years from now someone will find them in a storage closet or unearth them from a dump and have the exact reaction they were created to provoke. They are scientific and experimental by nature, the result of a trial and modification process. The forms are loosely improvised in conjunction with the electrical and mechanical requirements of the technologies implemented. When sound is involved, I use electronics and acoustics to create sound that is unexpected, unusual, or integral to the piece: sometimes beautiful, sometimes odd. Music and theater have influenced my art. I have played music all my life and have worked in theater building scenery for many years.

carlburmeister.net