“Continuing to express myself in such a way is an act of rebellion against that anti-LGBTQ political mindset.” From the LGBTQIA+ issue.
“It wasn’t for any attention of being ‘art’. It was just something I wanted to do. But then it became something that I was serious about. I want to take it seriously,” says the multidisciplinary artist Ryan Burke, whose aesthetic is immediately identifiable and gaining attention in the art world.
Creativity was a necessity for Burke during his childhood, as technology was absent, so his outlet was imagination: “My parents were anti video games and anti cable. At the time, it bugged me, of course. My brother and I would dress up, play, and use our imaginations all the time.”
Having grown up in Virginia, Ryan took many steps, first to California and then on to New York. He fashioned a career for himself through location, introductions, and investigation of his vision. I say this because, initially, he didn’t know what he wanted to do. California was where Ryan and makeup were born. “I started playing with makeup, I didn’t want to be a drag queen,” he says. “I also didn’t know how to do makeup. So I began with gluing things on my face, cutting out eyebrows, cutting out lips and gluing them on.”
Moving to New York saw Ryan’s experimental concepts grow in ambition. For the first few years, he simply enjoyed the city’s nightlife scene. But he also saw an opportunity: “Eventually I started getting to host and getting paid. I just saw it as a way of funding my little projects. I was like, ‘OK, now I have a budget.’ That really helped me a lot. I could take things to a higher level and get better materials and outfits.”
Putting all the profits from his work on the club scene back into his concepts, Ryan started laying the groundwork for the career he has now. He also met perhaps the biggest influence of his life, the avant-garde queen of NYC nightlife, Susanne Bartsch. “In New York, people take [the club scene] so seriously, so I guess I started to take it more seriously as well. But Susanne was it, she connected the dots for me.”
It was also in part down to Bartsch that Ryan had one of the stand-out moments of his career. “I got to do [the HIV/Aids charity event] the Life Ball in Vienna, and I’d never been out of the country. I’d never seen foreign people, royalty, Europeans, all these people who were dressing up and being fabulous. All of this culture from around the world.”
There’s no doubt that numerous elements of social media have assisted the rise, and in some cases, fall of artists globally. The New York nightlife scene is no different, but Ryan rose through the ranks pre-Instagram enlightenment. “When I started doing it as a kid, especially when nobody knew I did it at home, it was not something that anybody needed to know. I feel like if I were a kid now, my mind would be blown, that would be amazing.”
This year is ushering in new excitement for Ryan, who has already had an acclaimed photographic exhibition on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. “It’s actually two different directions that I want to go at the same time. I want to take my body of work and get marketing it through doing a book, gallery shows, and selling prints,” he says. “I’m [also] working as a makeup artist on other projects. Instead of doing it on me, I’m doing it on other people and moving in that direction. I like to do all kinds of makeup. I like to do beauty makeup, clean makeup, and more artistic things, too. I want to do a bit of everything.”
The changing landscape of America, and indeed globally, has accelerated. This could be seen to be heightened in the US due to the political climate there. Political commentary is new to Ryan, though. “The world isn’t what it was five years ago,” he says. “As a consequence, I’m having to voice my opinions a little bit more. It’s something that I didn’t want to get into, but now I
feel like it is a really important thing.”
Many of the laws Obama put into place for the trans community have now been revoked under the Trump administration. The bigoted nature of the current presidency seems to inspire anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric among his supporters. Ryan’s response? “I think continuing to express myself, as others do, in such a way is an act of rebellion against that anti-LGBTQ political mindset. Because we’re going to do what we’re going to do anyway. We’re going to express ourselves anyway. We’re flourishing and thriving, so fuck you!”
Along with being an inspiration to many, Ryan is the truest of creators. For him, 2020 will be about expanding his career in ways unexpected, even to him, and a continued exploration of what has made us love him from the outset: makeup.
Instagram: @ryburk
