Robert Burridge
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Robert Burridge
June 2012
Artist’s Bio
Robert Burridge is a painter in all media, national juror, college and national workshop instructor and is the Honorary President of the International Society of Acrylic Painters. Signature Member of both the Philadelphia Watercolor Society and the ISAP, his honors include the prestigious Crest Medal for Achievement in the Arts and the Franklin Mint Awards, and was recently invited to have a solo exhibit of his abstract paintings at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art. Burridge’s country studio is located on California’s central coast in San Luis Obispo County.
In 1985, I turned my passion into my second career. I retired from industrial design and became a full time, contemporary fine art painter, moved to California’s Central Coast and prepared to paint the rest of my life. Today, besides painting, I am an invited juror for international art shows, a college and national painting workshop instructor, and teach a fine art mentor program in central France. Recently selected as the Honorary President of the International Society of Acrylic Painters, I hold a signature membership with them and with the Philadelphia Watercolor Society.
My original paintings can be seen in six international galleries, on Starbucks Coffee mugs, Pearl Vodka bottles, eight tapestries and on fine art edition prints in upscale retail stores and cruise ships.
My work has received lifetime honors, including The Franklin Mint Award and recently the Philadelphia Watercolor Society’s prestigious Crest Medal Award for achievement in the arts previously awarded to Pablo Picasso, John Singer Sargent and Georgia O’Keeffe.
It is said, “Your heart doesn’t know how old you are.” For me, it’s true. Painting everyday in my small studio overlooking the Pacific Ocean, I feel like a kid again playing with color, design, paint and canvas, which reminds me of the saying, “It’s never too late to be what you always should have been.” Follow your bliss!
Non-Objective Abstracts
As for myself, my style has changed over the past 30 years and currently has settled into abstracts. The reason abstract painting has ended up making sense to me was simply if I paint long enough, I finally get to the point where I realize I’m involved with something that doesn’t serve any language. Instead it becomes a big concept of how much and how little I can paint into each painting. It reminds me of something I heard: “A French woman gets completely dressed and then removes one thing.” The concept intrigues me. It’s about restraint, about how much is enough to reveal your intentions, your meaning. Abstract painting is not worth looking at unless it has that higher road of meaning and clearly communicates the artist’s intentions and to do it with removing one thing.
Website: www.RobertBurridge.com
Robert is teaching a series of workshops at Artists’ Materials Expo 2012: Creative Spirit: http://expoartisan.com