Kristian Burford

Kristian Burford  has never been an ‘easy’ artist. Hovering somewhere in the non-genre of such artists as Ed Keinholz (1927–1994) and Hans Bellmer (1902–1975), with occasional hints of crime photographer Weegee (1899–1968), Burford deals in troubled dreams. His mise-en-scènes emanate a beautiful and poetic dread in much the same way as David Lynch’s Blue velvet (1986), replete with hints of brutality. But the school of Burford is very much his own: intensely rendered and detailed sculptural installations with more than a hint of the unheimlich.

Burford’s work Cell, 2018, for Divided Worlds, comprises a group of three female beings, each around two-and-a-half metres high. Their formation presents a ritual of resurrection: the first figure wills the resurrection, the second is resurrected, while the third celebrates the spectacle.

ASHLEY CRAWFORD

The artist gratefully acknowledges that Cell has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body