In Metamorfosi (2026)
In Metamorfosi imagines a macroscopic shift from egoic self-obsession to collective collaboration. The series was visually inspired by the vast, weightless skies of the 18th-century master Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. However, Elizabeth R. S. Burnim strips away all the classical angels and religious mythology. She replaces them with pure fields of energy, tracking how collective shapes emerge, dissolve, and reconnect.
I — Perceptual Condition
Light emerges through direct observation. Space is perceptual and without fixed reference.
An expansive, luminous cloud of emerald and celadon color glazing. Light emerges solely through direct observation in a space that is entirely perceptual—all information is based on cognitive senses alone.
II — Structural Saturation
Multiple forces accumulate without hierarchy. Structure is present as potential; it cannot resolve.
Sweeping structural gestures cut across the light, capturing our current violent experiential state. Multiple forces accumulate without hierarchy; actions directly affect and dictate counter-actions or forces in an unresolved, highly volatile feedback loop.
III — Emergent System
Relationships begin to form. Space organizes but remains unstable.
A non-hierarchical network of monochromatic, overlapping arcs in ultramarine blue. Composed of opaque, feathered, and translucent marks that translate raw kinetic energy, this work marks the emergence of a system—an inquiry into General Relativity, spacetime curvature, and an ever-expanding, dynamic universe.
IV — Chrysalis (In Studio Development)
The canvas actively traps ambient light rather than reflecting it, eliminating background visual noise to create a total void of cognitive silence.
This painting pivots sharply toward stillness, directing energy entirely inward for systemic metamorphosis—analogous to a heavy, silent chrysalis or a submerged dragonfly larva awaiting transformation.
Dimension: 7 x 9 ft | 213 x 274 cm
V — Constructed Field (In Studio Development)
Structure is fully present but no longer readable as structure. The field operates as a continuous spatial system.
In this painting, structure is fully present but no longer readable as a rigid framework; instead, the entire field operates as a continuous, unified spatial system functioning as a deeply personal yet mathematically objective family portrait. Inspired by José Argüelles’s Earth Ascending, the energetic coordinates of a six-member blended family matrix—including the artist, her husband, her children, and her ex-husband (the father of her oldest child) are presented as an imagined Constructed Field.
Mathematically, the birthdate-assigned Kin of all six members sum exactly to Ahau, Kin 60 (Yellow Galactic Sun), representing the ultimate harmonic stabilization and quantum coherence of the relational field.
Dimension: 7 x 9 ft | 213 x 274 cm