Cheryl Hazan Contemporary Art is pleased to present Perry Burns’ fifth solo exhibition with the gallery. In this new series of oil paintings and mixed media drawings, Burns utilizes pattern and color to stimulate the senses and bring together perception and spirituality. He states “Using the full visual language of abstraction – color, shape, line, mark, and texture – I merge the traditions of Islamic pattern and Abstract Expressionism and thereby consciously explore essential elements of what it means to be human – our sense of time, place, history, spirit…”. The synthesis of these elements brings a new lightness and exquisite depth to Burns’ work.

There is a unique sense of excavation and collaboration occurring. It is as if a visual history of color, repetition, movement, and balance is speaking on various levels to the psyche. These paintings and drawings are heavy, grounded, and rich but the pattern and color gives them a playful and approachable attitude. The combination is a synthesis that gives satisfaction and completion, positively affecting one’s mental state.

In Oceana, the rhythmic play of silhouetted stacked vessel-like patterns of soft and hazy gradients becomes a penetrable barrier that safely holds all the activity below. Waves of dark and light line undulate below and seem like a veil to yet another rhythm. The power of the mind mixes with the visceral strength of the heart in AO. The texture of this large painting filters a harmonious range of colors into the heavily dominated blue atmosphere. The drawings investigate similar nuances, and they introduce a clarity and saturation that completes Burns’ vision.

Perry Burns received his BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and his MA from Columbia University. His solo exhibitions include Sara Nightingale Gallery, Watermill, NY; Islip Art Museum, Islip, NY; Comerford Hennessey, Bridgehampton, NY; and ISB Gallery, Providence, RI. His work has been included in numerous group exhibitions including The Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, NY; Andrea Schwartz Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Spanierman Modern, New York, NY; 212 Gallery, Aspen, CO; and Silas Marder Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY.