ADDS DONNA IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE, UNDER GLASS; A SOLO EXHIBITION OF WORKS BY MICHIGAN-BASED PAINTER PAUL VERBURG. 

VerBurg’s ink drawings are organic, sensual, textural forms washed with translucent jewel tones or muted inks layered upon each other with further definition of obsessively drawn dots and circles.  They are at once delicate and lacey, but also methodical, telling a deeper story of VerBurg’s acute awareness of passing time with every meticulous tiny mark made. VerBurg’s marks indicate a comfort in repetition: a way to process the anxiety of passing time with ambiguous endings.

VerBurg’s paintings indulge his love for the textural materiality of paint as a medium.  Thick and lush, his colors reflect those of his drawings but the surface is denser.  Colors meld into each other creating less boundaries, meshing and dripping with less precision and a sense of abandon in his application of paint. Sculptural pieces are balls of paint themselves; to be admired, fetishized but also function as a painting tool.

VerBurg approaches his work as his own call and response.  He begins intuitively, unscripted and unsketched to remain in an ongoing, unfocused state balanced between realism and abstraction, each mark of the pen or brush informing his next moves.  In his words, he states, “I don’t want or need advance knowledge about the outcome; I enjoy the challenge of facing the unknown on the surface.”

VerBurg’s work elucidates a reimagined life, replete with vulnerabilities and uncertainties, but also with discovery, excitement, and thoughtful scrutiny.  While his work may reference his experience of the world around him, his work is also process based. The scale, colors, and imagery of the paintings and drawings are indeed important, but VerBurg admits that the texture and borders provide the deepest gratification while making the work.  

For “Under Glass,” the gallery provides an environment that suggests a living place of reflection and hopes, balanced against the reality of confinement.  The space reflects what has been forced upon most of us in recent years, with our homes (hopefully) bringing us safety and comfort, balanced with the spectre of the unknown just outside.  

Curated by Jan Christopher Berkson.

VerBurg was born in Newfoundland but grew up in the Angeles National Forest of California where his father worked as a forest ranger.  He holds a BFA from the Art Institute of Chicago.