BOBBIE BURGERS

By Shawn Van Sluys

Sumptuous colours and swooping brushstrokes characterize the elegant floral paintings of Vancouver artist Bobbie Burgers. Her work is largely influenced by 16th century European still-lifes which she studied as an art history student at the University of Victoria and the Universite d'Etudiantes Etranges in Aix-en-provence, France. Far from ordinary, her floral paintings evoke a sense of serenity and intimacy with nature.

Focusing on the tulip, the latest series of oil paintings take an unconventional approach to composition. The closely-cropped, large-scale paintings combine elements of abstraction with intense colour to create what Burgers refers to as an "escape world inside the compositional landscape." Inspired by the serenity of gardening in the spring, her tulip paintings suggest a time of renewal and growth, the joy and liveliness of life. Burgers has held major exhibitions across Canada as well as in Florida and Arizona. She is represented in Vancouver by Bau-Xi Gallery. Burgers' exhibition entitled Souvenirs runs May 17 until June 3, 2003, at the Vanderleelie Gallery, Edmonton.