About Edward Burden...

My work is ultimately about Consciousness...that glorious and horrible point of awareness and "Being."  I never felt of the world, but rudely placed in it.  I was surrounded by object worshippers, and I became one.  

As a child, and into adulthood, I grew up and lived in the home of one of the Presidents of The Museum Of Modern Art (MOMA).  I played with the Giacometti.  At a later age, my brother and I fantasized about removing the Picasso harlequin from its frame, and escaping to Europe to sell it.  

Being an observer, I quickly made friends with the 35mm camera my mother gave me for a trip with her on a Greek underwater archeological dig.  The Rollei had to be given to me in secret, because my Austrian arms-dealer stepfather didn't think a boy deserved such quality. As I grew, tormented by being sent away from home at the age of 8, I found solace, and distance from a world I didn't feel safe in, through my camera.  I loved Kodachrome, Ektachrome, Ilford HP-5, and Tri-X film.

What captures my eye most in photography is the essence of life (Consciousness), as seen through eyes, and faces.  Composition is key, obviously, but without consciousness somehow being represented...I lose interest.  I never crop my "art."  I feel that I have the moment to capture a composition through my viewfinder, and that is that.  I never use "Photoshop," or alter my Art images.  I may change the exposure a bit, as one might when printing with negatives…  I embrace the instant gratification of digital photography, but I shoot and print like it's film.

I feel I can photograph anything.  I have always played with light and continue to emphasize that in my work.  I use objects that mimic life/consciousness and it's nuances, through glass eyes, empty eye sockets (dolls/skulls), and skulls as the containers of eyes and gray matter...and theoretically, Consciousness.  

I LOVE doing this.  I take it very seriously, and I have a tremendous amount of fun with it.  Thank you for taking the time to look at my work.   Over time, I have developed a catalog of items that represent certain things to me, but I care about my viewers triggering of feelings and thoughts, more than mine. 

I was looking at a spectacular photographer's work, the other day, and I realized that what I'm doing isn't defined as photography.  I understand that I'm an artist, creating what I believe is Contemporary Art.  I sculpt and ‘write’ a story, by assembling items into a piece.  The piece changes and grows while I am working with it. I use a camera to record my work, with objects and lighting, and that’s where the photography aspect ends. Composition is present in all artistic endeavors.  I play with color and light as if painting.  My grouping of objects is a statement based on my entire life, observing, reacting, and finally accepting…what I understand as “my reality.” My “reality” is not necessarily your “reality.” That’s the fun thing about Consciousness.  What you see in my work is formed from your history of experiences.  We meet, through this moment of observation.  We create. My greatest “Art,” is what happens in your Point of Awareness/Consciousness/Mind, when you view my work. This is not photography in the classic sense that records a moment of life.  This is my playful, driven, Intimacy with Consciousness.