Elephant Original Oil Painting

Bio:
Megan Burak is a contemporary realist artist working mostly in oil. She was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and moved to the Eastern Shore of Maryland at the age of four. Burak graduated in the fall of 2015 from Salisbury University with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a concentration in two-dimensional art. She has had group and solo shows along the Eastern Shore including Ocean City, Salisbury, Dover, and Berlin. Burak has won multiple awards while exhibiting in juried shows and through online galleries. She was a Semi-Finalist in the Michaels Art Challenge for 2016 and the recipient of the University Center Art Award from Salisbury University. Her inspiration is drawn from her emotions and the world as she sees it. She currently lives and paints in Berlin, Maryland.

Artist Statement:
Inspiration can come in many forms, but I have always let my emotions take the leading role in the stories for my paintings. Sadness, happiness, hopelessness, pain – these deceivingly simple feelings have had a strong impact on how I portray my ideas. Paired with these emotions, I have been able to develop ideas from my reactions to things I’ve observed with people, trends, and events in society. With my work, I strive to create a number of different narratives within a single frame. Life is complex and strange, and people have individual reactions to the things they go through. My intention is to allow the viewer to use the events in their life as a way to connect with the stories of my paintings and, in turn, form a story for themselves. I want to create something that people have questions about – something with a message, but still ambiguous and open to the viewer’s own interpretation. Because sometimes I feel like I need to tell a story…and words are just not enough.