BOBBIE BURGERS LOVE’S QUARREL
Colorful and exuberant , fragile and fragrant, flowers bring beauty to
our surroundings and stand in for many different human emotions, as a symbolic gesture given to others in a variety of life’s moments. In her new series for Couture Galleri, Canadian artist Bobbie Burgers paints bouquets of flowers in all their grace and complexity. Yet Burgers is not simply a painter of flowers. In reading her own descriptions of her work, one realizes that she is also a poet, and her paintings are poems in color and form rather than words. They speak of nature, mortality, hope, loss, memories and those whom we love. Flowers are a potent symbol for fleeting time, and Burgers struggles with time and its passing in her painting process. More than painting a purely visual replica of flowers, she tries to capture a moment of time in all its abundance. Her Dutch roots might suggest she is a contemporary of both classic Dutch still lifes and Van Gogh’s looser, more fluid brushstrokes and colorful palette. Burgers is aware of these historical traditions and her more contemporary influences as well, but she does not choose to focus on these comparisons, opting to remain focused on the emotional impact of her work instead. According to the artist, painting is a way of wrestling with her own thoughts and feelings about life, love and family. For her, flowers are a metaphor for the relationships we have. “They grow together in tight quarters, reach for the light, shine, twist, evolve. With attention and love, they are their best, but with neglect, they suffer.” TExt by Nicole Smith
Photo: Burgers Wishloff Archives
BOBBIE BURGERS: LOVE’S QUARREL
Your Fragrance, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 152 x 152 cm
Love, Love, Love, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 132 x 132 cm
Love’s Quarrel, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 122 x 122 cm
To Die and Be Born, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 102 x 152 cm
When You Sing, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 102 x 102 cm
Your Being, Your Light, Your Shadow, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 102 x 102 cm
We Shall Always Be, You and I, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 127 x 127 cm
J’adore, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 142 x 163 cm
Bobbie Burgers lives and works in Vancouver, British Columbia.
EDUCATION 1997 - 1996
Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Vancouver, BC
1996 - 1992 University of Victoria, Bachelor Degree in History of Art, Minor in Film 1992 - 1991 Université d’étudiantes étrangères, Aix-enProvence, France
SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2012 “Love’s Quarrel,” Couture Galleri, Stockholm “Arriving at a Landscape,” Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto, ON “The Here and Now,” Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, BC “Wanton, Wild, Reckless Abandonment,” Campton Gallery, New York Galerie De Bellefeuille, Montreal, QC 2011
Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto “Your Abstraction Brings Me Clarity,” Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, BC “Speak to Me With Flowers,” Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal, QC “In Defense of Poetry,” Peter Robertson Gallery, Edmonton, AB “Figurative Sense,” Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St. Helena, CA
2010 Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal, QC “Cross Pollination,” Campton Gallery, New York “Perfume,” Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto, ON “Haven,” Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, BC 2009 “Ungovernable Memories,” Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal, QC “Force of Nature,” Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, BC “Ritual,” Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto, ON “Revolution in the Garden,” Foster White Gallery, Seattle, WA 2008 “A View from Villa Delia,” Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St. Helena, CA Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto, ON Galerie St-Laurent + Hill, Ottawa, ON
“Dreaming in Colour,” Peter Robertson Gallery, Edmonton, AB “The Emotion of Colour,” Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal, QC
“Grandiflora,” Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2007 Galerie de Bellefuille, Montreal, QC Foster White Gallery, Seattle, WA Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto, ON Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2006 Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal, QC “Perennial Obsessions,” Galerie St-Laurent + Hill, Ottawa, ON Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto, ON “Spring Fever,” Vanderleelie Gallery, Edmonton, AB 2005 Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal, QC
“Anatomy of a Love Affair,” Foster White Gallery, Seattle, WA “Rites of Spring,” Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto, ON Hubert Gallery, New York
“The Neverending Story,” Bau- Xi Gallery, Vancouver 2004 “The Secret Language of Flowers,” Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal, QC Vanderleelie Gallery, Edmonton, AB Galerie St-Laurent + Hill, Ottawa, ON “Eden,” Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, BC “L’Opera des Fleurs,” A and C Fine Art, Rhode Island 2003 “Walk a Mile in My Shoes: Tulip Fields from La Conner,” Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto, ON
“Salon Hanging,” Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Palm Dessert, CA “Souvenirs,” Vanderleelie Gallery Edmonton, AB ”Beauty Myth,” Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, BC “Lost Garden,” Gallery Susan de Witt, Naples, Florida 2002 “Bleu Provence,” Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto, ON “Waltz,” Vanderleelie Gallery, Edmonton, AB
Galerie St-Laurent + Hill, Ottawa, ON Gallery Susan de Witt, Naples, Florida 2001 “Love Songs,” Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, BC “Exotica: A Small Collection of Still Lifes,” Vanderleelie Gallery, Edmonton, AB
“From Near and Far,” Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto, ON “Saturation,” Vanderleelie Gallery, Edmonton, AB
2000 “Four Seasons,” Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, BC “In Full Bloom,” Vanderleelie Gallery, Edmonton, AB “Insousiance,” Hollander York Gallery, Toronto, ON 1999
“Seasons,” Hollander York Gallery, Toronto, ON Summer Exhibit, Vanderleelie Gallery, Edmonton, AB
“Bacchanalia,” Diane Farris, Vancouver, BC
1998
“Parterre,” Hollander York Gallery, Toronto, ON
1997
“Studio Exhibit,” Vancouver, BC “Shadow Boxing,” Ioni Studios, Vancouver, BC
1996
“Colorfields,” Ioni Studios, Vancouver, BC
1995
Ferry Building Gallery, West Vancouver, BC “Waterworks and Pathways,” Studio, Vancouver, BC
COLLECTIONS Weber Shandwick Thorn Mark Investments Ministry Of Foreign Affairs, Canada Lawson Lundel Lawson Sutton Place Hotel Pen-Cor Mortgage and Investments Royal Bank of Canada Scotia McLeod
BIBLIOGRAPHY Sheryl MacKay, North by North West, CBC Radio, February 16, 2003 Layne Christensen, “Paintings Explore Natural Surroundings,” North Shore News, July 5, 2003 Susan Balcolm, “The Art of Simplicity,” The National Post/ Vancouver Sun, March 2, 2002 Gilbert Bouchard, “Landscapes Take an Abstract Twist,” Edmonton Journal, Sept 28, 2001 Layne Christensen, “Colourful Canvases Reflect Artist’s Energy,” North Shore News, November 23, 2001 Gilbert Bouchard, “Wedded to the Whimsical,” Edmonton Journal, March 30, 2001 Layne Christensen, “Burgers Makes an Impression,” North Shore News, February 12, 1999
OPENING RECEPTION OCTOBER 17TH FROM 17:30 to 20:00. ON VIEW THROUGH NOVEMBER 18TH.
Birger Jarlsgatan 26, 114 34 Stockholm, Sweden • TelEPHONE: +46 (0) 734 267 018 Opening Hours: Tuesday to Friday from 12:00 to 18:00. Saturday and Sunday from 12:00 to 16:00. www.couturegalleri.se All artworks © BOBBIE BURGERS