By Bruce Checefsky
Thu 1/12 @ 5:30
David Burke recalls the first time he bought a piece of art. It was in the old Cleveland State University building on Chester Avenue. Douglas Max Utter exhibited paintings made with his signature black roof tar and spray paint. Burke, mesmerized by the sexuality and exotic work, bought several pieces.
“From there, I started paying attention to the William Busta Gallery in Little Italy,” said Burke. “I remember seeing a Don Harvey piece at the gallery. Don was living in the flats on the river in an old abandoned factory building. I went to a party at his place.”
According to Burke, although he never owned the Harvey piece, he could still visualize a series of plastic tubes with colored hydraulic waste fluid collected from the river discharge or some other sewage area.
“The piece had colorful fluids vividly displayed on the walls,” he said.
Don Harvey’s exhibition was the first of many shows he attended. He introduced himself to the artists at the openings and made friends. Burke followed the Busta Gallery to its various locations ever since, including the current iteration in Collinwood; he ended up buying a lot of work from him.
Drawn to the quality of the work and their vision, Burke admits he did not always understand the art in the gallery, but Busta would illuminate and provide context.
“Bill helped me understand the art, which was great,” Burke said.
Since the early 1990s, his collection has grown to over fifty pieces, including Brinsley Terrell, Lori Kella, Sandra Amitay, Cathie Black, Steve Bradford, Dexter Davis, Bruce Edwards, Mark Howard, Marvin Jones, Jean Cassill Kubota, Michael Loderstedt, Douglas Utter, Don Harvey, Jenny Mendes, Jason Milburn, Ken Navadomi, Paul O’Keffe, Claudio Orso, John Pearson, Chris Pekoc, Doug Sanderson, Corrie Slawson, Kenneth Sullivan, Megan Van Wagner and Stephen Yusko.
Regarding regional art, Burke believes Cleveland has a lot of creative talent. His years of traveling abroad have only strengthened his belief. Artists who stay in the area thrive on local success while avoiding the harsh pitfalls of the coastal art markets. Artists like Dana Schutz, who was from Michigan but studied in Cleveland, have made spectacular national and international reputations. He does not own art by Schutz or April Gornik, another painter from Cleveland with a national and international reputation. He was never interested in owning their work.
Burke likes to describe his collection as contemporary regional art from the mid-to-late 20th century by artists living in the Cleveland area who support themselves with jobs other than selling art.
“John Pearson and Don Harvey were teaching at the colleges to support themselves while making art,” he said. “Doug Utter was teaching occasionally, but sporadically and not happily. I like that about him.”
No specific subject describes his collection, although artists from Northern Ohio came out of an industrial center, which dominates themes. Buying and supporting their work has added to the fabric of Cleveland, which is why he has been so committed to them.
He not only purchases work but also encourages the artists to continue working even when times are tough. He has never counted the number of works in his collection. Studio visits with the artists were always standard.
“I enjoy seeing people create, which I could never do. I’m attracted to the creative spirit. Artists that took something ordinary, like a piece of wood or canvas, and transformed it into something with meaning,” said Burke. “Oddly, my interest has always been in literature more than art.”
A lifelong reader, he boasts a collection of over 5,000 books at his residence in Cleveland Heights. Reading and writing took priority, and he started collecting art only later in life, meeting artists while traveling in New York, Italy, France, and South America.
Following a successful career in the music business, inherited from his father and expanding it into a large chain of record stores, Recordland, owning over 45 stores in seven states, Burke eventually sold the business and bought a house in Italy, where he lived most of the year, spending occasional time back in Cleveland. He met his wife in Paris, who introduced him to artists there and later in New York City. It was an exciting time in the ’60s and ’70s abroad and New York City.
“Whether Willem de Kooning, Larry Rivers, Walter Silver, or many contemporary artists, I was part of that creative circle and introduced to a broad world of art and artists,” he said.
Burke is excited about the new generation of Cleveland area artists. While he has bought little work recently, what he has purchased and rolled into his collection interests him.
“Suffering,” he said, describing the Cleveland creative terroir. “Smokestacks from the Flats with huge wastelands spread across the city with shabby housing projects in deteriorating condition. There are some new projects, but not very many. There are a lot of empty housing lots.”
In a generic pablum to younger artists, he concludes that following your instincts and overcoming discouragement is better than giving up. Satisfy yourself first, Burke suggests.
Selections from his collection will go on view at the Yard Project Gallery at Worthington Yards in the Flats, with an opening reception Thursday January 16 from 5:30-7:30pm.
[Written by Bruce Checefsky]