Burgess - Legacy

An exhibit featuring the works of Bill Burgess, Lisa Burgess, and Bill Burgess Jr.

Bill Burgess - He is widely considered a founding pioneer of the non-objective art movement in Colorado Springs. His legacy of work spans 60 years and is found in many permanent collections. Burgess chose the unforgiving and glacial difficulty of welded steel and made sculptures that defy gravity. His use of sweeps and circles, bold colors and playful counterbalancing gives his work the energy of a juggler's spinning plate. His most famous sculpture, Continuum (Julie Penrose Fountain), is a gorgeous distillation of his life's work. It is a noble piece, and at an astonishing four stories high, it is one of the largest sculptural fountains in the country. 

He also left a legacy to his children, Bill Burgess Jr (Los Angeles) and Lisa Burgess (Seattle), who have become established artists in their own right. Their entire childhoods were immersed in making art, being around dads' artist friends, and celebrating the validity of abstraction. Like their father, they combine and collide color effortlessly, but their choice of medium, methods, and conceptual concepts couldn't be more different. If you look closely, you can see the legacy of Bill Burgess Sr running through all of it.

Lisa Burgess - A toaster. a flowerpot. A Chair. To me, Lisa Burgess, these everyday objects are important elements in my art because they provide a shared experience. I twist perspective, change light sources, alter foregrounds, and create uncertain spaces, inviting the viewers to assemble the pieces like a puzzle. Our brain naturally recreates what doesn't fit, and in the process of pulling the piece together, restoring perspectives, and adjusting colors - the art takes on the viewer's personality. Every viewer completes my work in their own way: to me, this is the essence of art.

I grew up surrounded by the smell of oil paint, clay, and molten steel. My father was an artist, and my mother was a social worker, and I am so grateful for the non-conventual life and values they instilled in me. Like my upbringing, we raised our girls to visit junkyards for treasures, give back to their communities, and listen to the songs of the humpback whale. I work for the UN World Food Programme and hear stories of unimaginable challenges and triumphs. It moves me, is deeply uncomfortable, and sometimes it breaks me. Art is my bridge to make sense of the world and connect to people I have never seen. A language for everyone.

Bill Burgess Jr - Bill is a visual artist, installation artist, and electronic music producer who splits his time between Los Angeles and Austin.

He has done immersive art installations at the Boston Museum of Contemporary Art, TEDx, SXSW, Fusebox Festival, and the world headquarters of a Silicon Valley tech company. As a featured artist/collaborator for Aurora Convergence of Light, his Dust Bowl-themed multi-screen video installation was seen by 45,000 people and took up an entire block in front of the Dallas Opera House.

He has written original music for Apple, Disney, and NBC. He writes and records electronic music under the name Horizon Watcher, and posts art videos on his Horizon Watcher YouTube channel. He is also a founding member of the Los Angeles, electronic jazz collective Space Dozer. 

His photographs and paintings have been in group shows in Brooklyn, Fort Worth, and Palm Springs.