Yasmin Burke's Fine Art Portfolio.

My artistic exploration encompasses various mixed media, resulting in a collection of 'uncanny' and 'surreal' artworks. From sculpture and painting to digital drawing/animation, printmaking, collage, oil pastel, and charcoal, I experiment with a variety of mixed media techniques. I draw inspiration from my environment, capturing images and architectural elements which I then blend to produce a distinctive and 'uncanny' result. My artwork reflects the evolution of diverse concepts, particularly in how my playful doodles can evolve into refined, sophisticated pieces of fine art.

These works evoke a profound sense of the 'Uncanny' and 'Surrealism,' inviting viewers to perceive my 3D creations as living, breathing beings stemming from a child-like vulnerability inherent in my artistry. My paintings mirror the Liverpool cityscape architecture, integrating my imaginative 3D creations within this urban landscape. This juxtaposition breathes life into these creatures, both in my perception and, hopefully, in the eyes of the audience.

My digital drawings primarily focus on personal portraiture, capturing the essence of individuals who have influenced me, including integral family members.

Additionally, I create detailed, manipulated images of my 3D creatures, enabling me to seamlessly integrate these fantastical beings into the world around me through combined imagery. I delve into the realm of animation as an experimental avenue, seeking to instil movement into my otherwise static sculptures. This aims to breathe life into these creations, granting them an essence of vitality and animation within our environment.

Through the meticulous process of animation, my sculptures have a sense of fluidity and motion, allowing them to transcend their physical form and interact with the world around them.

I like to create short stories behind my 3D creatures and compile them within a book I curated in my second year of university I named this book “Adventures of Lapis, Duck and Topaz” the first story in it being that of a fairy-tale set on the Liverpool hope university creative campus.

Lapis the Main character in this story this character comes from the first refined sculpture I made has a deep blue glaze to resemble his name. The duck in this story is a competitive glutinous character derived again from a ceramic sculpture I curated and has a strong resemblance to a typical Rubber Duck in the book I added clothing to this creature as I seemed to live in my Blue Liverpool Hope University Hoody, so I wanted to incorporate this into my work somehow. Topaz again got its name from the colour of the sculpture I curated it being smaller in comparison to Lapis and Duck therefore I decided to make her a companion ‘toy’ like figure.

Overall, I enjoyed thinking about how to convey the scenes of the story adding components of reality and my surroundings.

In the next story, I have decided to change direction into a more mysterious and darker environment the title being Kentucky Fried Fish is a play on Kentucky Fried Chicken. Looking at what happens when a KFC is next to a fish and chip shop in the depths of the combined garbage and food waste. The remains of fish heads and chicken bones merge with the help of grease and bin juice to birth this creature Kentucky fried fish. This idea came from my drawing of a fish head with legs that I laser cut into a physical 3D work.

I have also looked at my use of materials recently as it is expensive and time-consuming to create ceramic sculptures. So, I began experimenting with large wooden cutout sculptures having the shape of the original Lapis, Duck and Topaz sculptures. Meticulously sanding each outcome and priming the pieces with sprayed-on white paint being the base for the application of coloured paint (blue, yellow and orange).

These wooden works have a significant impact on the space around them. Creating a sense of a different reality suddenly this ‘object’ exists in front of the audience/viewer within their environment. When faced with this ‘object’ unexpectedly the surroundings ultimately feel alien and somehow changed because of this uncanny presence of this ‘object’ encroaching upon the viewer/audience.

To further this idea of suddenly changing the environment by its presence I want to curate a series of sculptures for my end-of-year Exhibition made from a variety of materials giving them their characteristics and personalities through this difference in materials.

This series of sculptures accompanying a large landscape painting of the Liverpool city skyline allows my idea of these creatures being alive in the world around me hiding within the buildings of Liverpool.

My future aspirations for these creatures are to somehow add them to parts of Liverpool's city Ideally being installation art hidden within the city taking inspiration from and resemblance to that of the work of Taro Chiezo the curator of The Drumlin's SuperLambanana. ( https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/stories/what-superlambanana )