Spatial Articulation

Spatial Articulation
12 Jun — 2 Jul 2015 at Agora Gallery in New York

M.L. Burdick

Like slides under a microscope, M.L. Burdick’s ink and mixed media pieces illustrate the underlying beauty in the strata of organic forms magnified. Although her work resembles both biological phenomena and the logic puzzles of complex mathematics, there’s nothing formulaic about her highly intuitive process. Rather, each piece is an experiment that creates new life straight from the ether. Even at her most experimental, Burdick keeps her work polished, displaying a mastery of aesthetic and curatorial judgment.

While firmly in the domain of the abstract, there is always something uncannily realistic about Burdick’s artwork. The combination of her naturalistic palette, her understanding of light and contrast, and the almost photographic textures she uses – derived, perhaps, from her background in photography – create a sense of immersion, as though each work is about to come to life. This vivacity liberates Burdick’s work from the sense of repetition, producing cohesion and a feeling of photographic suspension of energy. The viewer, in this sense, is privileged with a snapshot of a fleeting moment, and the anticipation of the artwork springing back into motion.