Stephen Wozniak
Burke in Progress
2022
Walnut wood, chrome wire pull, polywipe finish
9″H x 2″W x 5″D (23cm x 5cm x 17cm)

Burke in Progress was exhibited in the 62nd Annual Juried Competition in Monroe, Louisiana, February 20 – May 2, 2025 at the Masur Museum of Art, which was curated and juried by Dr. Annemarie Sawkins.

Burke in Progress, like many of the artist’s sculptures, encourages viewer interaction. In the work, modern polished chrome cabinet handles that reflect the viewer are perpendicularly positioned near an intersection on a triangular walnut slab, which suggests opposing actions or differing perspectives. While the title hints at an unknown ongoing suppression, the artwork itself presents an invitation to engage, perhaps symbolically addressing the power of viewers to resolve critical issues around rights and freedoms.

Wozniak’s art, which often shifts from two to three dimensions, reflects the tension between abstract ideas and the tangible world. It also raises related questions about the problems of remote contemporary life that regularly reduce direct human contact in the 21^st century.

The artist’s works are characteristically composed of contrasting organic and industrial materials, which reveal an additional tension between our reliance on natural resources and the profane transformations we develop with them. His art sometimes features multiple units of patterned hardware, which suggests the excess of numerous unchecked mutations that result from the production and confluence of these resources and materials.

In many ways, Wozniak’s highly refined, uniform, symmetric art ultimately provides a sacred meditative space for audiences to review and dispel their complex lives.