Tom Burr

American Conceptual artist Tom Burr takes inspiration from Minimalism and Post-Minimalism—as well as from sculpture, design, and poetry—to create his own enigmatic output. Artists such as Robert Smithson, Eva Hesse, and Gordon Matta-Clark serve as important touchstones in his practice, particularly the work of sculptor Tony Smith, upon whom the artist based an ongoing series. Burr utilizes a variety of unlikely materials to achieve his ends, those being, the artist told T Magazine in 2011, “a fairly wide but focused spectrum that includes, but is not limited to wood, paint, fabric, hardware, plastic, mirror, paper, occasional images (usually found), books, chairs, lamps, clothing, ladders, doors, and radiators.” Meanwhile, Burr's work explores themes as diverse as the changing temperature of objects to Anthony Burgess’s 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange.

Burr was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1963. He studied at  the School of Visual Arts in New York and then attended the Whitney Independent Study Program. His work has been exhibited throughout the U.S. and Europe at institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels, the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco, and New York's SculptureCenter. Burr currently lives and works in Norfolk, Connecticut and in New York City. His work is in the collections of institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the New York Public Library, and the Baltimore Museum.