jeff burton

L.A.- based photographer jeff burton reveals the everyday side of adult entertainment. he began his carreer on the sets of gay porn films .................

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jeff burton

galleria franco noero, turin, italy
january 10 to february 10, 2002
http://www galleriafranconoero.it

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porn
'art, fashion and pornography have their own standards
of decency. the hierarchy is so rigid.
fine art has been elevated to the top,
fashion is a bit lower than that,
and porn's even a bit lower than that.
I wanted to break through and introduce those genres to
one another', jeff burton says,
allowing the different levels of expression to merge.

the sexualization of absolutely everything- bar sex.
burton reinterprets the very concept of pornography:
his photographs capture the idea of seduction and
sensuality, without the crude harshness of explicit
hard-core imagery.
burton captivates, titillates and yet only hints at what
is really going on.
these scenes might be quite harmless, but nothing
is as banal as it seems, and the atmosphere suggest
a drama about to unfold.
his viewers are thrown into the rather embarrassing but
irresistible role of voyeur.

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a childlike view
burton's photos are frequently shot at knee height
depicting a child-like vision of an adult playground
illuminated by harsh movie lights,
saturated colours and an exaggerated depth of field.
nude bodies become abstract forms, fragmented and
piecemeal, often placed at the margins of the frame,
as if to recall the fact that these obscure,
erotic undertones are emarginated by society itself.
the sexual act is frozen and broken up,
reflected in textures that catch the photographer's eye.
physical fantasy and mundane reality are the real
protagonists of burton's photographs,
where the line of separation between fine art,
fashion and pornography slowly begins to dissolve.

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on and off stage
burton began his photographic career on the sets of
erotic films - mostly but not exclusively gay-themed
productions -. the adult entertainment industry is a
kind of bratty cousin to legitimate hollywood,
and both are inextricably built on dreams of fame,
fortune and glamorous immortality.
his images soon became shots stolen as events
occurred beyond the capability of the camera only.
tanned and oiled nudes appear like resin statues
caught in flagrante delicto.
pornography, according to the french sociologist
jean baudrillard, is the epitome of modern-day
communication:
it shows everything in an obscene and crude way,
not unlike television and advertising,
which turn reality into something surreal and super-real,
because its excessive and explicit presence makes
things seem too real to actually be real.
burton, in his 'off-stage' photographs,
by not showing action or even anything particularly
sexually explicit, captures the secrecy,
mystery and intensity of seduction.

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biography
born in 1963 in anaheim, california, jeff burton lives and
works in los angeles.
he holds a degree in fine arts from the california institute
of the arts.
his work has previously appeared in a number of solo
and group shows both in the us and abroad.
among them
1985 'jeff burton: paintings,' tarrant county junior college, fort worth, TX;
1988 'maintaining painting,' california institute for the arts, valencia, CA;
1993 'david hargrove and jeff burton', clay doyle gallery, los angeles;
1995 casey kaplan, new york;
1996 casey kaplan, new york;
1996 'stream of consciousness: 8 los angeles artists,'
university art museum, santa barbara, CA;
1998 taka ishii gallery, tokyo.
'photography: an expanded view, recent acquisitions',
solomon r. guggenheim museum, bilbao, spain, 1999;
'the americans-new art', barbican gallery, london, 2001;
'the wedding show', casey kaplan 10-6, new york, 2001;
sadie coles hq, london, 2000 and 2001,
emmanuel perrotin, paris, 2001;
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his recent collective show
'beau monde: toward a redeemed cosmopolitanism' SITE,
santa fe, 2001 - 2002;
and his recent solo show at casey kaplan 10-6, new york, 2001.
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books
'jeff burton: untitled', distributed art pub, 1999
'jeff burton: dreamland', powerhouse books, 2001

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untitled #130 (sofa), 2000
© jeff burton

untitled #160 (empty frame), 2001
© jeff burton