Burke Roberts is an American film director and multimedia artist. His work has been exhibited at numerous international film festivals, fine art galleries, museums and independent cinemas.
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Roberts grew up on a ranch in Colorado.[1] At eighteen, Roberts came to Hollywood and acted extensively in television and film. His performances of note include Vincent Gallo’s “Brown Bunny” and “NYPD Blue”.
Moving behind the camera in the late 90’s, Roberts’ work as a director has received international acclaim in some part due to his unique DIY high-production values. He has been profiled in an eclectic array of cultural publications including a feature interview on Suicidegirls.com, Tank Magazine London, cover story for Cinetrange Paris, multiple articles in his hometown periodicals – L.A. Times and L.A. Weekly and many more. In order to realize his work, Roberts formed “The Bizzurke Army Underground Film Militia," (also known as “Bizarrmy”) a network of artists and technicians who devote their time and talents pro bono to his productions.[2] His films deal with challenging themes, such as oppression, fanaticism and extreme circumstances. His first film “Jesus Rides Shotgun” begun a cult following and begun an expanding body of challenging short works: “Handicap City”, “Echo Of A Man”, “Insult To Injury”, “Some of An Equation”, “Substance Ovuse”, “Engineering Nudes” and “Sky Drops” - All of which have played in dozens of cities and countries due to Roberts unique approach of touring his films in a tradition historically practiced by independent musicians.
Having avoided the music video arena for 15 years Roberts recently entered the genre - the first of which he directed was named in the top 50 music videos of 210 by NME Magazine for Warpaint 'Stars'. Within one year he also dirceted video's for Swahili Blonde, Patrick Park, The Mccarricks and Sistol which premiered on such online venues as Pitchfork, NME, Paste Magazine and LA Times. In recent years he has expanded his ventures into large scale sculptures and installation art. His portable projection system, “The Engine” is a pioneering angle of Roberts’ DIY practices. The work consists of a 2000-pound light and steel sculpture that kinetically supports a 17 foot screen.[3] The transportable, self-contained exhibition system has been used as an alternative mode for distribution and presentation of alternative cinema. It debuted at The Architecture and Design Museum of Los Angeles and was shown at NASA, Tesla Motors Showroom, Burning Man and Coachella.
Roberts also curates an art festival in Los Angeles known as Engine CollisionFest. The festival includes novelists, poets, performance artists, fashionistas, musicians, creators of new media and practitioners of cinema. Past participants have included David Lynch, Cory Macabee (“The American Astronaut”), creators of Adult Swim's Metalocolypse, Wu Tang Clan's Raekwon and Warhol Superstar Cherry Vanilla.
In March 2010 The Los Angeles County Museum of Art presented a full retrospective of Roberts work as the Midnight headliner of their annual Young Directors night.