Nectar Imperial, Nils,

2005

<p> Burke’s Intertidal series investigates themes of masculinity and vulnerability. In <em>Nectar Impérial, Nils</em>, the sitter confronts the viewer head on, with liquid covering his face and a Nike trainer jacket. One might imagine he’s been sobbing, tears streaming down his cheeks; the title, however, indicates that his face and jacket are drenched with Nectar Impérial champagne, the aftermath of a drinking game among a group of male friends. The ambiguity is purposeful, conflating the kind of emotional expression often kept hidden in male-dominated settings with the rituals of malebonding that pervade them. A similar tension is at work in <em>Father</em>, where Burke shows himself holding his daughter against a backdrop of hewn logs. The delicacy with which he cradles the infant is contrasted with the forceful and vigorous work of felling timber implied by his environment. </p>