Marc Burckhardt

The Midsummer Classic, 2008
Posted by Marc Burckhardt at 9:36 am on July 16th

Babe, for the 2008 All Star program

Last night—and well into this morning— the 79th All Star game was played at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. If it seemed like they didn't want to wrap it up, you could understand: This was the last All Star game to be held in the fabled House That Ruth Built, as it'll be replaced by the time the 2009 season opens. With it goes a cathedral of baseball, and 85 years of American history.

I didn't get to the game—it would have been a tough commute from Austin—but I was honored to play a small part in the experience the folks who did make it there had: the portrait of Babe Ruth above was commissioned by Major League Baseball for last night's All Star game program. I have to admit I was both honored and a bit intimidated by the task, given the special place both the Babe and Yankee Stadium hold in the hearts of fans.

detail, with the Burma Shave sign

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Wolf Totem
Posted by Marc Burckhardt at 1:12 pm on June 25th

I just opened my mail to find a tearsheet (who gets those anymore?) from Standpoint magazine, a wonderful new political publication based in London. Actually, art director Ingrid Shields sent me the whole July issue, and the cover art by Noma Bar is a standout as well. Thought I'd post them both.

The article I was commissioned to illustrate was a book review of Jiang Rong's Wolf Totem, the autobiographical tale that won the 2007 Man Asian Literary Prize, and is a best seller in China. The nomadic life of Inner Mongolia and the bold spirit of the wolves who roam their grasslands, as well as the eventual demise of that culture, are metaphors for Rong's view of contemporary China. I wanted to capture the nobility of the wolf set against the Mongolian foothills, using golfleaf to reinforce both the regal quality and to reflect the graphic nature of traditional Chinese guó huà painting.

This cover double portrait by Noma Bar is amazing in its simplicity, intelligence, and ability to capture the candidates. Wonderful work by the brilliant artist from israel, now living in England.

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The Afterlife
Posted by Marc Burckhardt at 11:42 am on June 6th

The original art for Attach�

I'm often asked to work on projects with historical themes, and over the years some of those have developed a history of their own. Today, I received an e-mail from Justin Catanoso, the author of My Cousin the Saint: A Search for Faith, Family, and Miracles, whose original article I created this portrait for in 2004, through Holly Holiday at Attaché Magazine. In the intervening years, he developed that article into a book, recently released by Harper Collins, and art director James Iacobelli chose to use my art for the cover as well. Apparently it was that cover that caught the eye of Christopher Schoppa at the Washington Post, who yesterday penned his own article titled "What You See Is What You Get: Judging Five Books by Their Cover". I was surprised to see that among the five, mine was the only one with an illustrated cover—and that three of the others had photos of dogs on them (do I detect a bias there?).

Justin's book is about the his grandfather's cousin, Padre Gaetano Catanoso, who spent his life in Italy serving the poor, and in 2001 was canonized by Pope John Paul II. The story of the divergent paths of these two cousins—one who emigrated to America in search of a better life, the other who stayed behind to serve his countrymen—led to an exploration of faith and family that's resonated with readers.

The photo I worked from of Padre Gaetano

The path this painting has taken, from magazine, to book cover, to private collection (the author bought the portrait from me after the project was completed), is a journey of its own, and shows that not only do saints have an afterlife, but art does, too. And people do judge books by their covers, sometimes to their credit.

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New Paintings @ Marder
Posted by Marc Burckhardt at 10:11 am on May 12th

Mirror III, 8" x 10", acrylic & oil on wood

Here are three new paintings I have in " Big Show 3" at Silas Marder gallery in Bridegehampton, NY May 17-June 22. All three are small (8" x 10" on wood panel) in keeping with the format of this annual show. There'll be 50 different artists exhibiting, each with three panels, and the opening will be 5-8pm Saturday, May 17th. If you're in the area, come take a look.

Silas Marder Gallery
120 Snake Hollow road
Bridgehampton, NY 11932
www.silasmarder.com

Mirror I, 8" X10", Acrylic & oil on wood

Mirror II, 10" x 8", Acrylic & oil on wood

Mirror II, detail

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Just Say No
Posted by Marc Burckhardt at 1:57 pm on May 7th

If you're here at Drawger, you have an interest in art. The people who create visual art in the US are under direct threat today from a strange combination of corporate interests and Utopian "free-culture" academics, brought together under the The Orphan Works bill. Lots of folks here have explained the reasons why this is destructive to people who actually create art, as opposed to those who seek to "aquire" it, so I'll make my post here simple. If you have an interest in seeing visual art survive as both an artform and a means of supporting artists themselves, you have to write your representatives in Washington today. It's very easy to do, and will make all the difference between this bill passing or being stopped in its tracks. And that has to happen NOW.

Click here to go to a very quick, easy site that will allow you to reach all your representatives in less than 2 minutes. And thanks for supporting visual art and the people who make it.

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Happy 75th, Willie
Posted by Marc Burckhardt at 9:45 am on April 30th

I did this one a few years back for TJ at Texas Monthly, and it remains one of my favorites

Down here we have a slogan: "Keep Austin Weird." Nothing and no one embodies that spirit of off-kilter mellowness more than our own Willie Nelson, who turns 75 today. Tonight, KGSR FM is broadcasting a birthday celebration for Willie that includes Patty Griffin, Bob Schneider and Alejandro Escovedo, so tune in, light up, and wish Willie many weird birthdays to come.

Here's the beautiful cover of this month's Texas Monthly, shot by Platon and designed by the great TJ Tucker. Hats off to them both, and to editor Evan Smith for allowing a cover this nice to go out into the world without the clutter of type.

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London Calling
Posted by Marc Burckhardt at 8:28 pm on March 16th

The portrait version of one of the ads for Honda

Just before Thanksgiving, I got a call from Wieden Kennedy/London to work on a series of pieces for the Civic Hybrid as part of a broader campaign for HONDA's "Problem Playground", which focuses on their creative engineering efforts. The various images all play off the theme of puzzles to highlight the challenges that Honda surmounted in creating their performance hybrid. As we went along, the number of formats and uses expanded dramatically, and ultimately called for two complete versions of each piece to accommodate the horizontal and vertical uses (6 paintings in total, several requiring multiple pieces within each piece which were then composited for animations). In the end, I worked on this project through Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve, wrapping it up just a few weeks shy of the media buy. I understand these can be found throughout the subway ("tube") and train stations, on billboards and building wraps all over the city, and even animated on digital billboards in London. Here's one of the paintings I did for this project, along with some detail shots from the landscape version. Just last week I found out we won the ANNA Award (Awards for National Newspaper Advertising) for this piece in the series, so I thought I'd show it off here. Hats off to Creative Directors Kim Papworth & Tony Davidson, and creative team Mark McCall, Frank Ginger, Sam Heath, Mark D'Abreo, Richard Dorey, and Guy Featherstone for sending this one my way.

detail from the landscape version

The hybrid engine had to be very accurately painted�clients always love their product!

The link to the main Problem Playground website url could be found on the pencil

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Bonny Doon
Posted by Marc Burckhardt at 2:06 am on February 29th

Last month, I got a call from Burke Owens at Bonny Doon Vineyard to create art for a new dessert wine they're introducing called Angel Paille, or Angel Pie: a sweet wine made from Grenache Blanc grapes, which are picked ripe and then dried on mats in the vineyard before pressing. The wine was described to me as "lush, with a pale gold color and sweet pear, quince and spearmint aromas", and the vineyard where the grapes were grown is named Beehive.

Working with those various clues, I tried out a number of different directions in B&W studies, finally settling on a combination of elements that spoke to different attributes the wine possessed. The bees reflect the vineyard name, the sweetness of the wine itself, and the sting of love (and fine wine).

The pie in the image is both a nod to the name (In the South, Angel Pie is a special style of dessert) and the function of dessert wines generally: To pair with a great after-dinner treat. Working with both the typography and imagery is something I always enjoy, and Burke was terrific in giving me the freedom to run with this one.

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Christmas in Clarksville
Posted by Marc Burckhardt at 1:28 am on December 21st

The Santa Parade on the sidewalk. There's music playing, too.

Janice and I live and work out of a renovated 1910 farmhouse in the great old neighborhood of Clarksville, which sits on the edge of bustling downtown Austin. In one direction you're steps away from restaurants, nightclubs, and skyscrapers, but in the other you're in one of the oldest single family areas in the city—it was recently named one of the 10 Best Neighborhoods in the US. One of our neighbors, Willis, is part of the reason why: he's single-handedly been putting the Merry in Christmas for years now with a light show that seems to grow every time you visit it. And he's more than ready to give you the tour. I thought I'd put up a few shots of his display—hope you enjoy.

The mailbox opens and reveals a letter from Santa.

James Brown serenades you from the porch.

The Reason for the Season.

The scene from the street.

Not sure why, but Santa climbs up and down this ladder all night.

Who knew there were flamingos in the manger?

Janice & Gertie with Willis.

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Art Basel Miami
Posted by Marc Burckhardt at 1:03 am on December 3rd

Harlot / 8"x 8" / Acrylic & oil on wood

Just finished this piece for Art Basel Miami, which I'm participating in as part of the KNOW Art Books Exhibition. If you happen to be there December 6-9, then drop in and see the work. There'll be pieces there by Jordin Isip, P-Jay Fidler, Kathie Olivas, Chris Pyle, Jeff Soto, Mark Todd & Esther Watson, Joel Nakamura and many others. The place to be is:

Claremont Hotel
No. 215
1700 Collins Avenue (17th St)
Miami Beach : FL
December 6 – 9 : 2007
10 am - 8 pm