Eye of the Beholder

Laura Burke’s Portals series speaks to many of the same motifs the artist has been drawn to in the past several years: plants, vessels, fruit, and people. In deteriorating the barrier between inside and outside, the series reflects her continued love and fascination with the world of inanimate objects and the secret lives she hopes they keep. Where this series deviates from previous works is in how the characters in Burke’s imaginary worlds begin to look back. Portals has recurring characters looking back at the viewer. The title of the series engages what pictures are — doorways into an invented world. No matter how familiar the subject matter may appear, each piece is an interpretation of our shared reality, and within that interpretation are windows and gateways to yet another invented world.