Christopher Joy and Zachary Keeting visit the studio of Tom Burckhardt who discusses his work and questions of authenticity and doubt in painting.

Burckhardt elaborates on ideas he shared with John Yau in a recent interview: "I do like the idea, like I said, of embedding this doubt. I also think that in a way it makes them from the beginning, yeah, fake in a certain way. They’re kind of like a representational sculpture. And then from that fake, false beginning, maybe they’re a little bit like masks, somehow. It’s my job to wrestle them back into integrity with the painting. I was thinking that the early work squashed something down to the ground and then they grew up; and, to me, these come out laterally into a point of integrity. You know, I really love painting, but I also want to make fun of it. I want to have that full range of experience. I don’t want to be a true believer, and wear blinkers about it. I want to acknowledge its absurdity, that’s the thing. I think the key word is 'absurdity,'and I always thought that 'absurd' is a lovely, generous word about a relationship to something."

Tom Burckhardt: Pretty Little Liars will be on view at Tibor de Nagy, New York, October 17 – November 24, 2012.