Maureen Burns – Bio

The 'domestic uncanny' is a recurring theme in Maureen Burns' work, long fascinated with the images of mid-20th century furnishings she has recently shifting her focus from Home magazines to the Internet's e-Bay.

Garden Interiors, exhibited at Stills Gallery 2007, presents a multitude of 'mug-shots' of (not) wanted iconic Modernist furniture displaced from their usual settings into the context of front lawns, backyards, and a post-modern aesthetic. Re-presenting photos taken by an unlikely bunch of e-bay-sellers-come-international-artists (look out for Shabby*Shack and Sunset-Load) Burns appropriates their shy masterpieces as curator/collector/conceptual artist.

The collection forms an extensive library of miscellaneous data, recalling Walter Benjamin's 'optical unconscious' - those things seen by the camera, but not focused upon by the photographer. No more an archive of Modernist design than of clotheslines or rubbish bins, this surplus of visual information and overlooked signifiers encourage multiple readings, mis-readings, cross references, and crossed wires. It culminates in a collision of elements that trace the history of photography - from instrumental purposes such as in anthropological, forensic and product photography, through the photo as fine art to virtual travelling of the world, albeit the world of the everyday and anyone.

Maureen Burns has a long established career, exhibiting widely in both solo and group shows, including at institutions such as the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Museum of Contemporary Art and Centre for Contemporary Art. Her works have been written on extensively in publications such as Art and Australia, Photofile and Broadsheet, with recent coverage in the Sydney Morning Herald. Burns is currently a PhD candidate at College of Fine Arts. Burns' work is also in both public and private collections including the Museum of Contemporary Art.

These images are a selection from the artist's portfolio. More images are available for viewing in the gallery's Print Room.