Peter Burega’s paintings give vision to a birthing cosmos or an expanding galaxy. Working with color and light, he creates a magical universe that is both mysterious and distant and yet compelling and accessible. His medium of oil, wax and glazes adds to the illusion of depth and luminosity that pulses across surfaces of masonite or canvas as if you were viewing raw energy itself.

Canadian born, Burega has moved through a variety of careers. He was trained as a concert pianist, earned a BA in art history and sociology from McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, and a JD in law from Whittier College, Los Angeles, CA. During his law practice, Burega began painting as a therapeutic contrast to the linear thought processes that consumed him during the day. He continued to paint while working as a director of documentary videos, but when a chance showing of his paintings resulted in invitations to join galleries, his avocation transmuted to his vocation.

Light is the principle subject of Burega’s art. As throughout art history, light often symbolizes a spiritual presence or a life force. For Burega it represents not only a force, but the dynamics of the subconscious. He makes it happen by applying and scraping away as many as fifty layers of wax. Working intuitively, Burega reveals light reflections and refractions that express a collective unconsciousness that goes to the soul of his viewers.

"I started painting while I was still an attorney," Burega notes. "I made a conscious decision to stop practicing law. I was unhappy and thought, I can't be that person." He continues, "I don't know where my paintings come from. Making art for me is a visceral process. It's not cerebral at all. I paint from the subconscious and from memory. I have no preconceptions, and I don't plan anything. Being a painter is such a dynamic thing. In fact, I feel it's one of the last dynamic professions."