The Burchfield Exhibit

Watercolors have to go into dark storage for a minimum of five years after being on exhibition. I knew they were kept in the dark and not exhibited much for obvious reasons having to do with light, but I did not know the minimum 5-year rule after being on exhibit.

The Burchfield exhibit is beautiful. It also made me sad. They are not happy-go-lucky paintings. They are beautiful, but not light. I attended the lunch talk on Wednesday. I don’t know exactly what it was that made me identify with a man who would be 116 years old if he were still alive today, but there I was, starring at the paintings like I knew some secret. I wasn’t looking so much at how they were painted, which as a painter, I’m wont to d0- I was in his studio or at the breakfast table or whatever, writing “hamburger” on a scrap piece of paper and doodling around it.

Christopher Knight reviewed the exhibit in the L.A. Times, calling it “an artist’s show.” Burchfield’s notes, sketches and journals are on display along with books, catalogs and some magazine profiles of him in his studio. I can’t remember the name of the magazine, but in one there was a rather mundane photograph of his brushes, describing what kind they were and how he used them. It identified them as 3/4 of their actual size. In another image, we learn how he stretched his watercolor paper. Half the exhibit feels like it’s a glimpse into the working process of the artist, and to quantify it as half is silly. The documents, writings and “doodles” room, which is like the brain of the entire exhibit and quite the opposite of "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain," infiltrates the remainder of the exhibit- the exception being the wallpaper room, which is beautifully compartmentalized and shows the work he produced during that period of his life. Maybe this is just my read, but the wallpaper room felt oppressing, intentionally so, like holding down a wallpaper design job and painting fine art was a burden. Working for the man sucks.

After the talk, I asked about the photograph of Burchfield in his pitch-black studio and was told that he was a bit of a loner, didn’t care for the city, didn’t socialize much and didn’t even go to his own opening at MoMA. I can’t remember how that explained his cave-like studio, but apparently it does. I later went to the hardware store and bought another clamp light for my studio. I love the picture of Burchfield in his studio, but I'm also craving light in mine right now.

I didn’t want to leave the gallery. I envied the guards. Sure it was a rainy day here in the city, but knowing the watercolors will hit a couple of venues and then go back into the dark made me want to stay and memorize the works. There is so much symmetry to the exhibition. Here's a clip by Robert Gober describing his curatorial decisions.


Heat Waves in a Swamp: The Paintings of Charles Burchfield
October 4 - January 3, 2010
Currently at the Hammer Museum in collaboration with the Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo State College.