Ray Burggraf:  Blue Skies, New Work and Revisions

This new show at Venvi is a different Ray Burggraf.  He is known for large-scale acrylic paintings on shaped wood with hand brushed gradations of subtle color in abstractions referring to landscape.  This show, Blue Skies, however is dominated by smaller 20 x 24 inch drawings in colored pencil that take the viewer outside to experience the background for his abstractions that we usually see in sunny Florida—Blue.  In these new works, in realistic detail and perspective, there are puffy white clouds--horizon to overhead or, if above the clouds, underneath to horizon.

The blue Burggraf uses in Blue Skies interestingly is always the same but not exactly soft sky blue.  It is more strident and bright, bowing to the realistic but artificial character of these constructed worlds.

Included in this show are some older works that have contributed to Blue Skies in different ways.  There are two colored pencil studio views that include 3-D works in colored light settings that have the overall feel of the new works but now seem claustrophobic by comparison.  Also there are two larger pencil and paint on paper that reveal some of the process of their development-- hinting at the landscape-response of the Blue Skies works to come.  Another interesting contributor to this show is strangely enough a banner.  It was exhibited at an international art show back in 2002. For the 2002 Flag Art Festival, Poetry of the Winds invited artists made personal image banners.  They were made to fit an all-weather frame to be shown outside in conjunction with the Korea, Japan World Cup in Seoul South Korea.