Works by Contemporary Artist Tom Burckhardt on View at the U.Va. Art Museum Beginning Jan. 20

January 5, 2012 — In conjunction with an upcoming University of Virginia Arts Board residency, the U.Va. Art Museum presents an exhibition of the paintings of contemporary artist Tom Burckhardt.

"Tom Burckhardt Paintings," curated by Jennifer Farrell, the museum's curator of exhibitions, opens Jan. 20 and runs through June 3. 

Burckhardt works in a variety of media, yet consistently engages questions about the practices and histories of painting. His paintings, made of oil on fabricated cast plastic supports, blur divisions between abstract and representational art. Often, his works evoke the psychological phenomenon known as "pareidolia." in which a person believes they randomly encounter the image of an object or a person, such as a face found in the clouds or a rock formation.

In addition to the exhibition at the museum, Burckhardt worked with studio art students in U.Va.'s College of Arts & Sciences to create an artistic interpretation of the Brooks Natural History Museum – located in Brooks Hall from 1877 through the 1940s – which opens at U.Va.'s Ruffin Gallery Feb. 24 and runs through March 30.

Burckhardt, who lives and works in New York, has exhibited widely and received numerous awards for his art.

The exhibition is made possible through the support of Albemarle Magazine, U.Va. Arts Board, The Hook and Ivy Publications LLC's Charlottesville Welcome Book.

— By Jane Ford

Media Contact

Jane Ford

U.Va. Media Relations