hot air
Diane Burko’s Bearing Witness at Cristin Tierney Gallery combines mixed-media paintings shaped by her experiences in extreme environments—glaciers, coral reefs, deserts, and rainforests. She has engaged with the shifting landscape for fifty years, responding to the accelerating changes that threaten these places. This marks a significant moment in her career—her first solo exhibition in New York in over forty years and her debut at Cristin Tierney Gallery.
Two of the larger-scale paintings in the show, Glacier Map and Reef Map 1 were developed in parallel and painted on opposite walls of her studio, a process that led Burko to uncover how they link. Reef Map 1 (2019), a rectangular acrylic painting with collage elements, features a narrow map along the top, revealing fragments of climate data. Below, the bulk of the painting is dominated by a potent swirl of yellow, red, green, and blue bursting into a vivid cloud within the turquoise and blue ocean—scientific charts scramble and dissolve into a disintegrating landscape. The underlying layer extends the imagery while simultaneously creating a subtle frame, stirring a sense of space within a space where landscape, topography, and data converge. The painting likely alludes to the destruction caused by rising ocean temperatures and coral bleaching, but its potency derives from its rich, painterly layers.
Glacier Map 1 (2019) conveys the sense of ice retreat through its blue and black acrylic layers. Crackle paint, collage, sanding, and air compression create fractured, unsettled surfaces. Beneath them, map-like lines reference scientific data—a reminder that these shifts are measured, tracked, and ongoing, further reinforcing the theme of map-landscape intersection that runs through the show. Next to the sizzling reds and yellows in its neighboring Reef Map 1, the cool blue in Glacier Map 1 morphs from a jazzy stream to a menacing flood before the viewer’s eyes.
The third large-scale painting is composed of two pieces, titled Summer Heat 1 and 2 (2020). Unlike the previous paintings, the composition here does not divide the painting into horizontal planes but fuses map and landscape seamlessly. The smaller piece on the left reveals faded images of animals and trees above climate charts, partially obscured by the blazing red and orange fire. These hints of figurative elements enhance the sense of endangered life within the landscape, adding another engaging layer to the work.
Urgency permeates the paintings—their surfaces are fractured and unsettled. They do not instruct or warn. They confront and insist on presence. Over the past two decades, Burko has shifted from painting monumental geological formations and waterways to reflecting the impact of industrial activity on these landscapes. Through the beauty and physicality of Burko’s work, viewers gain a sense of a world in peril—and perhaps, a renewed connection to it.
Photo courtesy of Cristin Tierney Gallery unless otherwise indicated
Diane Burko: Bearing Witness
The show runs through March 8, 2025
Cristin Tierney Gallery
219 Bowery, Floor 2, New York, NY 10002