Syncopation 2

About Syncopation 2

Kramer’s modern and graphic paintings express lyrical, geometric abstraction via a harmonic interplay of syncopated shapes of various sizes and colors. This work includes primary and secondary palettes of red, blue and green. Segments of color are painted in diagonal formation and other lines of black, oranges and yellows are layered vertically over top in a segmented and fractured way. This creates an illusion of constant movement. This painting is painstakingly perfect.

Trained at Yale University (MFA), The Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology (BSc), The Royal College of Art, London (Fulbright Scholar) and The State University of New York, Kramer gained international success with a number of group and solo exhibitions in North America and Europe. He was a part-time member of the design faculty at the Ontario College of Art & Design for 21 years and director of his own design firm in Toronto 1967-1990. In 1999 he received the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ from Arts Ontario and in 2002 Kramer was awarded ‘The Order of Ontario’ by the Province, and an Honorary Doctorate from OCAD.

In his work, Burton Kramer blends together different traditions of abstract art. His paintings combine visual clarity of design with rigid geometric constructions, musicality of color harmonies with optical illusions. Following in the footsteps of Wassily Kandinsky, renowned for his experiments with synesthesia of color and music, the Canadian artist understands the language of painting as a unique universal means of transferring visual impressions into a different form of reality. "My paintings are music made visual; they deal with rhythms, syncopation, tonalities and moods."