Michael Burton: Floor of the Sky

An exhibition of digital art and NFTs. An opportunity to learn about and purchase NFTs will be available.

Floor of the Sky: When I first visited Nebraska I was naïve because all I wanted to see were endless prairies and cornfields.  I was excited to live here because it was so different from growing up in Massachusetts. But I didn’t understand the subtle complexity of this place. Now, almost twenty years later, I understand why the Nebraska landscape fascinates me.  The amazing weather and beautiful skies are important but the ground, the Floor of the Sky, is where things get interesting. Some paintings are about an abandoned farm where the prairie is trying to reestablish itself. Others are about the haze created by sunlight blasting a frozen field in late winter.  The way an old Dutch barn assumes the color of the earth as it slowly decays. Or how swarms of tiny bugs seem to travel through walls like dark matter. Each painting is digitally created based on my observations across the state.  I used Pro Create on an iPad with brushes I made specifically for objects like grass, cornstalks, dirt, bugs, old clapboard, or milkweed.

Dance Floor of the Sky: Dance Floor of the Sky is a compilation of ten different animations.  It loops every 15 minutes. My love for the Nebraska landscape is likely the same a yours. We both see the same things; interesting farms, cool barns, and great colors. We both agree that the weather and the sky is fascinating. But our backgrounds and our connections to this place likely differ. You might be listening to country or pop music while I am listening to EDM. But we both have an emotional reaction as we drive by the same gorgeous field. Dance Floor of the Sky is like a TikTok video and it is temporary. I have set these Nebraska landscapes to unusual tracks for this exhibition only. I hope you’ll have an emotional response and question whether what you are seeing is the same as what I see. And if you acquire one of these animations as an NFT, what track will you use?

Exhibition dates: August 27 – October 15, 2021