Mary's Detroit Photoblog: Tim Burke

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Tim Burke

Tim Burke is an artist who lives at the Heidelberg Project in Detroit. He's an excellent artist (and does more mainstream art as well) and also a political activist. Let me know if you need help interpreting his work. I can offer my interpretations.

11 comments:

goda said...: That was effective communication through his work. It speaks truth to delusion.; November 3, 2008 at 2:52 AM
Unknown said...: Not the kind of art I would have at home but I like his work, you can easily tell he's an activist.

Your animal shots at the zoo are fantastic! If you enjoy wildlife, I invite you to stop by my travel blog and take a look at the last two posts or check some more shots under Kenya and Tanzania on labels.; November 3, 2008 at 7:27 AM
Marie said...: Yes, Mary, I would like very much to know about your interpretation of his work.....;; November 3, 2008 at 10:47 AM
Mary Stebbins Taitt said...: Thanks, Goda, JM and Marie for your kind and interesting comments.

Marie, I will be back soon to give some interpretations.; November 3, 2008 at 4:43 PM
Mary Stebbins Taitt said...: OK, here goes, in brief. The first piece, the girl on the phone (young woman) is everywoman, mother daughter, wife, friend, anyone, meaning addiction can happen to anyone. BUT--it mostly happens to the poor and what they/we need is help, not jail. My brief interpretation of #1; November 3, 2008 at 4:52 PM
Mary Stebbins Taitt said...: I think #2 and #3 are about war and other negative things we do to children black and other religions particularly. We bomb innocent children and innocent people, fry them, kill them with land mines. Blow them up. Rich people "eat babies," in the sense that they allow for "collateral damage" in order to get richer on oil and other schemes. Brief interpretation of #2 and #3--please feel free to add your own interpretations!; November 3, 2008 at 4:55 PM
Mary Stebbins Taitt said...: #4 has at least two meanings--one being a kick at George Bush for starting a war where there were no weapons of mass destruction and linking that to the "real" mass destruction of lives by alcohol and other addictive substances.; November 3, 2008 at 4:57 PM
Mary Stebbins Taitt said...: The last one has to do with the way the world treats women and children, confining and abusing them. Like the terrible rape and stoning of the Somalian girl.; November 3, 2008 at 4:59 PM
Mary Stebbins Taitt said...: JM, not all of his work looks like this, some of it is truly beautiful in a classic sense, something you would (or might, anyway) display in your home.; November 3, 2008 at 5:01 PM
Marie said...: Thank you very much, dear Mary, things are much clearer now if that makes sense.

His art is very much "engagé"! (I need to look up the meaning of engagé :-)))); November 4, 2008 at 9:16 PM
Mary Stebbins Taitt said...: Of course, Marie, these are just my own brief interpretations, and if you spoke to Tim, he might say something different. Thanks! :-D; November 5, 2008 at 8:58 PM