Peter Burke | Shadow Factory: Andipa, London
"At what point does a group of individuals become a crowd? What happens when the group of individuals shift their identity to a collective mass rather than a single voice?"
Andipa Contemporary is proud to announce a new series of work by British sculptor Peter Burke. Shadow Factory refers to a series of buildings constructed during World War II in Britain to increase manufacturing capability of key elements to the war effort. During Burke's early career training at Rolls Royce there was a building which retained the name Shadow Factory and become a source of fascination, resonating both the poetic and the prosaic.
Burke explores the areas of tension between a human image and the physicality of materials and process. Surveillance, vulnerability, tribal instincts and dynamic group behaviours are all key elements to this series of work which, ultimately, discusses the relationship of the individual amongst the mass. At what point does a group of individuals become a crowd? What happens when the group of individuals shift their identity to a collective mass rather than a single voice?
To Burke there is a frailty to the human condition which is so often overlooked in the fast paced digital world we find ourselves in. To explore what it means to be an individual in our present culture is at the very core of the artist's work.
After a long period of involvement in non-figurative sculpture, Burke desired to make contact with the western figurative tradition using means that reflected his environment and experience. His time at Rolls Royce has informed his working practice, which is evident in his employment of industrial processes and materials. In many of his works, Burke seeks to explore man’s relationship with the inescapable facts of mass-production and standardisation that are ever- present in our culture, bearing in mind that reproductive technology has been at the centre of sculptural practice since the founding civilisations of western culture.
Selected Collections:
Burke has exhibited since 1973 in both mixed and solo shows in Britain, Europe, Asia and America. His work is held in private collections and institutions around the world including:
New Art Centre
Roche Court, Salisbury
CASS Sculpture Foundation London and Goodwood
The Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice [Concepts for 21st Century Sculpture]
Art Basel
Dyson Collection
Rolls Royce Collection
Contemporary Art Society, London (Henry Moore Foundation Purchase)
