Artist Paul VerBurg
Table of Contents
Introduction
Early Realist Works
Transition to Abstraction
Current Abstract Focus
Exhibitions and Recognition
Summer Road Song
Los Tres
Introduction
Amber LeMay had the wonderful privilege of being able to chat with renowned artist, Paul VerBurg. Amber and Paul discussed Paul’s early days, his start as an artist, his training, and even his various genres of work. You can see the whole interview in the video above.
Early Realist Works
Paul VerBurg
Paul VerBurg is a full time artist and painter, trained in drawing and painting at The Art Institute of Chicago (BFA), and Art Center College of Design. Originally from Arizona, he recently moved to Okemos, Michigan. His early work focused on realistic depictions of cowboy life and the American West, reflecting his personal experiences and connections to those subjects.
VerBurg's early realist pieces were featured in several major museum exhibitions across the country, including shows at the Eiteljorg Museum, Autry Museum of the American West, Wichita Art Museum, and Museum of Northern Arizona. His cowboy art was also shown in galleries nationwide and published in magazines like Southwest Art and Art of the West. This early style demonstrated strong observational drawing skills and an ability to capture the essence of a scene.
Transition to Abstraction
As VerBurg progressed as an artist, he began experimenting with more abstract styles, blending genres beginning in the 1980s. He was influenced by American Modernism and Abstract Expressionists and made a conscious effort to focus on the abstract design qualities, patterns, shapes, and colors even when working from realistic subject matter.
After returning to school at age 50 to further develop his skills, VerBurg's work made a decisive turn towards abstraction. He creates assemblages, drawings, and paintings that translate the physical world into non-objective arrangements of line, texture, and color. His current process is intuitive, responding to diverse influences from the outdoors, music, scents, and free association of imagery.
Current Abstract Focus
VerBurg's recent pieces feature layers of shapes, marks, and fragments that verge on being non-representational. He combines and transforms familiar elements like figures, landscapes, and natural forms past the point of literal interpretation, reinventing them into a personal abstract language.
In discussing this evolved abstract style, VerBurg says: "I think of pure Art as a non-representational entity. However, the idea of infusing representational imagery with abstract qualities and then pushing the familiar toward an unfamiliar outcome is a major motivation in my creative process...I cannot remember a time when I was not curious as to how things worked, where do ideas come from? ... so years ago I began to search for the origin of my own creativity."
His current work is meant to capture ephemeral moments, emotional impressions, memories, and reactions through abstract representation rather than outward appearances. It is a contemplative, intuitive attempt to convey internal experiences.
Exhibitions and Recognition
VerBurg's experimental abstractions have received positive recognition at recent exhibitions. His work was featured in a solo show… UNDER GLASS, just last year at Adds Donna Gallery in Chicago. Then currently at Evanston Art Center in Evanston, Illinois, “Isolation and Introspection”, which will run until February 18, 2024. As he settles into his new home of Michigan, VerBurg plans to engage with and impact the local art community, while continuing to follow his creative instincts into unfamiliar territory.
Summer Road Song
“Summer Road Song” by Paul VerBurg
Sing me the song of a long summer road
Of bright skies, of wind clear and blue.
Away from life’s weary battle,
Alone with the hum and the rattle
Of my truck, down a long summer road.
Horizon to horizon one long strip of song
Willy’s singin’ along down the road;
“They never stay home
An’ they’re always alone
Even with someone they love.”
Tis a haunting it’s true
That cuts clear down into the bone
Then echoes,
“Even with someone they love.”
“Even with someone they love.”
LOS TRES
“Los Tres” by Paul VerBurg
"LOS TRES is what we called them back in the day. They were a posse of three rodeoin’ cowboys from Espanola, New Mexico who personified the story about the three cowboys in the cab of the truck; and just how can you tell which one is the REAL cowboy??
These guys traveled everywhere together down the rodeo road, besting one another from Galisteo to Cimarron to Ruidoso. They never really got caught up in the pro circuit though, pretty much stayed small time; winning just enough cash to buy gas and a couple’a burritos to make to the next town.
Their biggest ‘break’, if you could call it that, was a trip to Brush! Colorado, Fourth of July 1989. Billed as the largest amateur rodeo in the country, one of them took all-around that year (on a borrowed horse), another found the love of his life and the third just kind of blended into the crowd. One helluva trip!
We never did figure out who the real cowboy was …"
—This article was written, restructured, or adapted by Russell with information gathered from sources around the internet. Russell is the producer of Amber Live and is greatly overworked to pull it all together. If it’s on the internet, it must be true. (We’re kidding.) BUT, if you find any errors or omissions in the article, please let us know so that we may correct the issue. Thanks for your support!
