By Alicia Burke

"I don’t think I can put it into words. Sketching and painting her was as easy as pouring a Guinness…it came out easily," said Burke. He recalled the Sinéad O’Connor painting as being one of the most effortless works of art he ever completed. It flowed with elegance, partly because he felt no hesitation or doubt when he was working on the piece. 

"It must be the Irish in me," he revealed that he recognized something in her that reminded him of his family, who he said are the easiest people to paint. Of his siblings, he has painted three of his four sisters and two of his six brothers, one of whom is his identical twin, Paul. 

Revels in Heritage

Behind the bold-stroked, energetically-painted caricatures of celebrities that gloss the covers and pages of popular magazines like Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair, is a gentle, articulate, thoughtful man who revels in his Irish heritage. 

Burke, 50, grew up in a large Irish Catholic family living in Buffalo, N.Y. His granduncle (whose father had come from Ireland) was the bishop of Buffalo when Burke was a boy. The Burkes immigrated from Islandeady, Co. Mayo, to New York City in the 1850s. They eventually made their way to jobs in the steel mills of South Buffalo because there was no available employment in Ireland at the time. Like many émigrés, they sent the money they earned back home to Ireland. 

Burke’s influences for his work stretch far beyond his Irish heritage. He studied the works of Picasso, Matisse and Van Gogh when he first started painting at the age of 25. His other early influences include the German-American cartoonist Thomas Nast as well as other turn-of-the-century caricaturists from Spain and France.

As Burke progressed in his career, his influences included David Levine, Ralph Steadman and British illustrator Gerald Scarff. When asked if he was inspired by any Irish artists (painters, or otherwise) he responded that he enjoys the works of Irish figurative painter Francis Bacon and Samuel Beckett, the redoubtable dramatist, novelist and poet. 

Oscar Wilde also influenced Burke when he was younger because of the humor and wit that surrounded the flamboyant Irishman’s works as a playwright, novelist and poet. Burke also enjoys the music of Irish artists Elvis Costello, The Cranberries and, of course, Sinéad O’Connor. 

Although Burke did not have the opportunity to meet O’Connor for her caricature, he said that he enjoyed listening to the music of his subjects if he likes their sound. When painting O’Connor, he played I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (1990), one of her most popular and well-known albums. 

Uses Photographs

Burke creates his paintings from as many photos as he can secure from various sources. He starts with a cartoon or a drawing and then works to create the painting. One of his biggest challenges is beating the clock when creating a new piece due to the always-tight deadlines. Burke approaches his pieces by concentrating on the subject’s facial features while trying to fit them into the whole of the individual’s image. This is Burke’s way of telling the viewer how to look at the subject. 

Comedians are by far the most challenging subjects to paint because their nature is hidden under so many layers, he pointed out, adding that their actual personalities are difficult to discover. When Burke approaches any subject, his main focus is to capture shapes and colors. He focuses on the surface — the spatial aspect of their features—and then what is inside them usually emerges. When drawing and painting comics, he felt he has to dig deep to capture their essence, especially that of Robin Williams, Eddie Murphy and Jim Carey. 

"Politicians and rock stars are my favorite subjects," said. "Politicians, because they want their individuality hidden and rock stars typically celebrate their individuality." 

Burke’s process begins with drawing the subject so that when he is ready to put paint to the canvas, he already knows what he is going to do. He works in oils for the final stages. He spends about an average of eight hours on a particular painting. Burke said he used to paint an entire piece at a time without a break, but currently divides time spent in his studio in three- to four-hour segments. 

Works on Consignment

He creates approximately two paintings a week, averaging eight to ten a month, mostly done on consignment. It is rare when he has time to do work for himself anymore. Burke’s current clients include The New York Observer, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Business Week and the Buffalo News First Sunday Magazine. He likes painting for the German edition of Vanity Fair because it is more daring than American publications. "This allows me to be a little looser and stronger." he said.

Burke owns the majority of his paintings, but has sold quite a few and gave many away when he was younger. Because most of his paintings are created for publications, the magazine or newspaper purchases the reproduction rights but not the actual painting directly from Burke, who represents himself without an agent. His large works are expensive. For example, the original "James Dean," which is 48"x72" in size, sells for more than $40,000. Reproductions of his available works are in the $500 to $3,000 range and up. 

Many celebrities own the pieces that Burke painted of them. The list includes musicians Jim Hatfield from Metallica, P.J. Harvey, Natalie Cole, Ani DiFranco and John Mellancamp, who also happens to be a painter. Mellancamp owns two Burkes. Others include comedian Richard Lewis, Bill Levin of Time Magazine, Walter Isaacson from CNN and actor John Cusack. His twin brother, Paul, a New York investment banker, also owns his "Jerry Garcia" and "Mick Jagger" works.

"I think the main thing is (a sense of) presence, that is my goal," said Burke. "That’s what I like the most about my work." 

He wants the observer to get a feeling from each painting and to see more than just paint on the canvas. "You can feel inside of the person; (an) intensity coming from the painting," he added, attributing this ability to develop compassion for other people in the way he approaches each portrait. 

Burke and his wife, Geri, and son Jeffry, 20, are Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism devotees. Subsequently, he makes an annual pilgrimage to the foot of Japan’s Mount Fuji. "I know that compassion for others is a direct effect of my (Buddhism) practice and what I have been able to develop. To me, that makes my work different from other caricature art. I have been actively working on that part of my life since I have been painting, which is to have passion for all life and all humans," reflected Burke. 

He emphasized that caricatures were not about making fun of someone, but about the impression a viewer receives, seeing something about themselves or a glimmer of something human. 

Becomes Buddhist

Though his family was raised Irish Catholic, Burke knew at age 7 that he was never able to pray to a god, but he did take some of the basic philosophies of his religious upbringing to heart, including the admonitions to "do unto others" and "love your neighbor." These factors have served as a spiritual helm for his life. When he was age 25, he became a True Buddhist, "I felt my life condition soar! I felt calm and fearless. I started to open my heart to the people around me. I felt courage in every area of my life. I felt adventurous and started doing my caricatures in large oil paintings," he recalled. 

Burke’s career also began to soar after he developed this deep awareness from within. He currently lives in Niagara Falls with Geri and their cat, Baby. Son, Jeffry, lives in New York City. The Burkes are working hard to creating a True Buddhist community in the Buffalo/Niagara/Toronto area. 

Burke was recently in Milwaukee for the opening of the Pier Wisconsin exhibit and visited with some of his family who live in the area, including his sister, Margaret Neary, and his aunt, Aloyse Hessburg, 75, a member of the School Sisters of Notre Dame religious order. 

Hessburg, an associate professor in the fashion department of fashion at Milwaukee’s Mount Mary College, is an expert in apparel and couture construction. "Philip is a free spirit; you can see that in his artwork. He is certainly influenced by music of musicians he enjoys. He is truly an artist in that what he did today will not necessarily be what he does tomorrow," she asserted

Hessburg recalled her nephew as a young student learning about art, "Now, it is the inspiration of what is there that comes out in his paintings and the excitement of the color, which is all part of the caricature of the person." She elaborated, "You can tell when he is not too impressed with someone. (Take for example) Kurt Cobain, you get that staring look of someone that in Philip’s mind looks like someone on drugs. Then there is the image of Madonna and it is all about her offering her breasts to the world. He analyzes the person and [finds] something that strikes him." 

Hessburg recently had the opportunity to see a full body of Burke’s work, admitting that she normally doesn’t purchasing the publications that showcase his work. 

The nun added that over the years, she has seen more of a wholehearted kindness emerge from her nephew, and she recognized that it may have come through his strong beliefs in Buddhism. Her favorite painting is "Satchmo!," she enthused, referring to a painting of famous jazz artist Louis Armstrong, "I think it shows that Philip loved the man and that it was someone he really respected." 

Burke has a talent for revealing the inner selves of his subjects just as he has in his personal journey of discovering his own inner self. He reached far back in art history to find artistic inspiration and he reached far within himself to find spiritual inspiration, where his connection to his Irish heritage lies. Philip Burke has truly touched the world around him. 
 
 
 
 

To purchase and discover more about Philip Burke and his art, go to www.philipburke.com.