Mandell Weiss Gallery

Mandell Weiss Gallery

ARTS DISTRICT Liberty Station

2650 Truxtun Rd

San Diego, CA 92115

“Paradise”

J.T. Burke

October 4, 2024 to January 17, 2025

Public Opening Friday Oct 4 from 6-8pm

Paradise is a myth.  It’s a concoction of our own devices created to comfort us from the rigors of daily life and the sorrows of the human condition. Paradise offers hope for a meaningful existence beyond our mortal lives, granting humanity a lasting place in the cosmos. It’s a beautiful myth, so beautiful that even recognizing it as such only slightly diminishes its allure. I bring this myth to life through my art. 

Using vintage costume jewelry as building blocks, I create visions of a joyous utopia. I search swap meets and yard sales for discarded pins, broaches, figurines and trophies. I photograph them and use the images to create compositions of surreal wonder.

By blending original photography with digital manipulation, I create scenes of exuberant life and utopian bliss.

About J.T. Burke

Jeffrey Thomas Burke earned his BA from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1981, followed by an honorary MS from the Brooks Institute of Photography in 1999. Over the years, Burke built a career as a commercial photographer, cinematographer, and graphic designer, becoming an early adopter of digital photography in his studio practice. In 2006, Jeffrey and his wife, artist Lorraine Triolo, retired from commercial work and re-launched Burke-Triolo Studio to focus on their personal creative projects.

Image: J.T. Burke Paradise No. 1