{"id":9829,"date":"2016-12-16T13:09:41","date_gmt":"2016-12-16T18:09:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/?p=9829"},"modified":"2017-01-02T14:57:18","modified_gmt":"2017-01-02T19:57:18","slug":"ryan-burke-in-ultimate-form","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/ryan-burke-in-ultimate-form\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Burke, in Ultimate Form"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brooklyn-based Ryan Burke<\/a> has been lauded as an otherworldly nightlife entity, supreme makeup muse, and visual mastermind. His glued and painted faces are the foundation for his work as brand ambassador to beauty icon Pat McGrath. His elaborate looks capture and enthrall New York partygoers at the wild club-kid socials of Susanne Bartsch and Ladyfag. His stunning portraiture evokes the elegance of Richard Avedon with an extraterrestrial twist. Arriving at Von on Bleecker Street during the bustle of Tuesday evening happy hour and awkward first dates, Burke looks as one would expect of an off-duty New York party personality \u2014 crisp and reserved, in all black. A blank canvas, so to speak.<\/p>\n

\"Ryan<\/a>
Designed for Pat McGrath<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Transformation, especially in New York City, exists as a permanent state. One could argue that the very nature of artistic creation is one of transformation \u2014 a mediation of materials, an elemental change from raw dust to invention. Late in August, as every fashion guru, special event czar, and window storefront hums with the energy of pre-Fall transition, it is a rare and inspiring occurrence to witness the calm, collected presence of an artist who has built a career out of transformation. When you see it on a map, Fairfield, Virginia, looks less like a town and more like a smattering of houses along one main road. Burke describes his hometown as \u201crural\u201d, drawing out the first syllable with a charming tilt of his head. Growing up in a nurturing yet restrictive environment fostered an early reliance on pure imagination in the artist, who often performed elaborate outdoor productions, dressing up in anything and everything he could find. His parents\u2019 aversion to technology meant that Burke\u2019s childhood was without many of the usual cultural influences \u2014 and stereotypes. \u201cI grew up with parents who never said I had to be one way or another. When I say I dressed up, it was always gender ambiguous. I would wear dresses, I would wear capes, I would wear a suit, whatever I wanted. My parents never said, \u2018don\u2019t do this, don\u2019t do that.\u2019 It was more, \u2018whatever you want to do,\u2019\u201d says Burke, \u201cThey\u2019re very, very open people.\u201d Glimpses of pop culture came few and far between for the artist, who re-calls one specific instance of seeing Bjork on the cover of his mother\u2019s copy of Vanity Fair<\/em>. Some research uncovered a new way of thinking about the intersection of art, music, and fashion for Burke, who still counts the experimental musician as one of his influences. \u201cThe way she presented herself, like an art form,\u201d he says, \u201cThere\u2019s a visual element, and it\u2019s all interactive. It\u2019s organic, but it\u2019s also technological. Her work is just on a different level.\u201d Aside from Bjork, much of his early inspiration came from the natural world, a focus that has not wavered in the years he has spent living in New York and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\"Ryan<\/a><\/p>\n

In many of Burke\u2019s elaborately crafted looks, nature is not only the inspiration, but also the medium. Flower petals, tree branches and butterfly wings appear on headpieces and in makeup looks, alongside cut paper shadows, pearl-like bulbs and colorful feathers. Building each image from the bottom up, Burke begins his process in vintage shops and trimmings stores, creating each look based on its eventual function. He describes the process as ultimately intuitive, \u201cI find whatever it is that works, and then once I know that, I know what colors I\u2019m going to work with, what the vibe is going to be. Then it\u2019s a matter of finding the right materials, and that comes from anything. It comes from either wandering around and seeing the right texture, brainstorming, or lying awake at night, not being able to sleep.\u201d Like a conductor of color and form, Burke arranges and experiments with each material component until the right mood strikes, pulling the various elements of fashion, makeup and art into place.<\/p>\n

\"Ryan<\/a>
\nOnce each look is composed, Burke sets about documenting, often against a vibrantly colored backdrop \u2014 although he prefers something more environmental. \u201cTo be honest, I hate shooting in front of backdrops,\u201d Burke specified, \u201cI like a natural backdrop. In my last apartment, I had this back courtyard, and I would shoot everything there. Now it\u2019s just color backdrops.\u201d His process of self-portraiture has always had firm roots in documentation, even back when it was purely personal. \u201cWhen I was younger, I was secretly dating this guy, and he wasn\u2019t out yet. He was in California, so it was like online dating. It was my first experience with another guy. I would create these fun looks and send him pictures of myself.\u201d While it still retains some of its romantic edge, Burke\u2019s current work centers on the evocation of a feeling, which he describes as, \u201ceverything has to have some sort of emotional element to it. Most of my portraits, and most of the looks, come from some sort of feeling that I had, not just a divine aesthetic, but something that I\u2019m promoting in a way, even if I don\u2019t realize it at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ryan<\/a>
Designed for Pat McGrath<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While his two-dimensional work succeeds in capturing a sense of the sublime, the performative aspect of Burke\u2019s work adds an entirely separate element \u2014 movement. Tassels and pom-poms sway amongst sweeping fringe and long chains sparkle from piercings as Burke saunters through events and parties. The effect is highly musical, a concept that the artist embraces, saying, \u201crhythm is huge, it\u2019s the biggest thing. Rhythm to me involves movement, but it also includes the way things flow and connect. That\u2019s funny too, because music is my other background. Since middle school, I had private lessons, and I was in band. I thought I was going to be a musician.\u201d Burke\u2019s relationship to composition is highly apparent in both the movement and structure of his work, which at times is playful, and others deeply symphonic \u2014 almost reminiscent of notes on a sheet of music.<\/p>\n

At once tactile and transcendent in their ambiguous beauty, Burke\u2019s portraits have caught the attention of everyone from fashion designers to television executives, allowing him to bring his vision to a variety of platforms including art installations and runway shows. Despite working for years in the fashion and beauty industries, Burke is wary of traditional notions of \u201csuccess\u201d in those fields. \u201cBeing popular is not success to me, that doesn\u2019t matter. Having integrity, and ideally enough money to live \u2014 to be able to freely create the things I want to do. That\u2019s it, I don\u2019t need extra, and I don\u2019t need approval from everybody. I don\u2019t need all of that, I just want to do what I like to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ryan<\/a><\/p>\n

Many artists who work in visual styling pull features and inspirations from film, television, vintage fashion, and fine art with elaborate mood boards and magazine clippings \u2014 Jean Harlow brows, sweeping ’70 bangs, De Stijl geometry. While he has come to accept certain cultural influences over the years, Burke\u2019s true inspiration comes from a heightened sense of emotional realization. \u201cI look at artists like Cindy Sherman, for instance, and her transformations are very political. She\u2019s trying to address something. There\u2019s always a point, you know? For me, it\u2019s not political, because it comes from a different place. I\u2019m not thinking in terms of all of these outside things. It\u2019s not about one idea, not about trying to make a point. It\u2019s just an expression.\u201d As dusk approaches and bar noise begins to permeate every back corner table, the subject of personal transformation arises again, a concept best described in the world of underground nightlife as \u201cfeeling your fantasy.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s exactly that,\u201d Burke muses, gesturing in mid-air as if molding clay, \u201cYou get to feel like your ultimate form.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information please visit ryanburkephotography.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

. . . <\/span><\/div>\n

Posture’s <\/em>third print issue \u2014\u00a0The Boss Issue\u00a0<\/a><\/em>\u2014 is now available for purchase.\u00a0<\/em>This 168-page magazine features exclusive interviews with artists, theorists, activists, and nightlife icons. The conversations dive deep into ideas of leadership, success, and organizing in queer\/trans\/non-binary and WOC communities. This issue also represents a new design direction for Posture<\/em>, one that reflects the mission and purpose of the publication.<\/p>\n

Order<\/a> your copy today through our online shop: shop.posturemag.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"posture-03-spread-06_1024x1024\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Brooklyn-based Ryan Burke has been lauded as an otherworldly nightlife entity, supreme makeup muse, and visual mastermind. His glued and painted faces are the foundation for his work as brand ambassador to beauty icon Pat McGrath. His elaborate looks capture and enthrall New York partygoers at the wild club-kid socials of Susanne Bartsch and Ladyfag.\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":9838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[97,51,2086,2088,73,196,2085,2087],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-9829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fashion","tag-artist","tag-fashion-2","tag-makeup","tag-pat-mcgrath","tag-performance","tag-queer-fashion","tag-ryan-burke","tag-visionary"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Ryan-Feature-2.jpg?fit=1714%2C1232","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6QBV8-2yx","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9829"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10034,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9829\/revisions\/10034"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9829"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=9829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}