Philip Burkeโs portraits donโt just look like the people he paintsโthey actually vibrate. Just look at them. With wild color, skewed proportions, and emotional clarity, his illustrations have lit up the pages of Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Time, and Vanity Fair, capturing cultural icons in a way that feels both chaotic and essential.
But behind that explosive style is a steady, spiritual core.
Burke begins each day by chanting. It sounds like this: โNam Myลhล Renge Kyล. Nam Myลhล Renge Kyล. Nam Myลhล Renge Kyล.โ It means โdevotion to the mystic law of cause and effect through sound,โ he says. The chant grounds Burke and opens a space where true connectionโon the canvas and in lifeโcan happen.
This daily practice is more than a ritualโitโs a source of creative clarity.
Burkeโs rise was rapid and raw. Emerging from Buffalo, New York, he made his name in the punk-charged art scene of the 1980s with a fearless, high-voltage style. But it was through his spiritual journey that the work began to transformโless about distortion for shock, and more about essence, empathy, and insight. Less funhouse mirror, more human.
Our Anne Quito spoke to Burke about how Buddhism reshaped his approach to portraiture, what it means to truly see a subject, and why staying presentโboth on the page and in lifeโis his greatest creative discipline.
Read the full episode transcript here.
Print Is Dead (Long Live Print!) is a podcast about magazines and the people who made (and make) them. Magazines that combined thought-provoking attitudes and values with a distinctive look and feel, and cast a long and powerful shadow on American culture and public discourse. Hear stories and learn lessons from legendary designers, editors, writers, publishers, photographers, illustrators, photo editors, and moreโstories and lessons that capture a magical history of innovation and inspiration, and that point the way forward. Weโll go deep into the lives and careers of this astonishingly talented group of creators, and tease out what these giantsโpast and presentโhave to teach the next generation of creators.
If youโre in the magazine businessโif youโre in any business focused on content creationโthis podcast is for you.
This episode is made possible by PIDLLP sponsors Commercial Type and Freeport Press.
The team behind Print is Dead (Long Live Print!) also produces The Full Bleed, a podcast about the future of magazines and the magazines of the future.
