clinton press release 2000

Press Release

ARTISTIC ATHLETE HONORS CLINTON

For Immediate Release

November 29, 2000: Washington D.C.
Internationally renowned American artist Gregory Burns joined dozens of his fellow Olympic and Paralympic athletes at the White House today in a celebration of the teams' stellar performances in the Sydney 2000 Games. Burns, a three-time Paralympian, competed in six swimming events during the Sydney Paralympic Games which immediately followed the able-bodied Olympics. Burns, who when he is not swimming paints and exhibits in Asia and the United States, presented an original oil painting to the President on behalf of the USA Paralympic Swim Team.

"Painting and swimming fuel my body and soul and help me appreciate how fortunate I am," says Burns, who contracted polio in Jerusalem, leaving him without motor control of his legs, while his father served in the American Foreign Service. According to his father, Robert Burns, "We were shattered when Gregory contracted polio, which originally left him limp as a wet dish towel. But even as a child, he took after his late athletic grandfather who played briefly in the minor leagues for the Washington Senators' baseball team."

At the age of three, through the efforts of President Eisenhower's personal physician, Burns began his swimming career in the White House swimming pool (later turned into the pressroom). Decades later, competing in the Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and the Sydney 2000 Paralympics as a member of the USA Paralympic Swim Team, Burns captured four world records and a half dozen gold and silver medals.

During the White House visit, Burns presented one of his recent "swimming series" paintings to the President, on behalf of the USA Paralympic Swim Team, in appreciation for his efforts to improve the lives of people with disabilities. "Knowing that the couple will be moving to new lodgings soon, I thought they might be needing some new art for their walls. I wanted to present something that referenced the athlete both in competition and on the award stand. Clinton has won his fair share of battles and surely shares this sense of toil and triumph," adds Burns.

Burns began painting at the age of five following his family's transfer to Paris. After graduating from college, Burns moved to Taiwan to study Chinese painting and calligraphy as well as Mandarin. After completing his courses he backpacked overland for 16 months throughout China, Tibet, Nepal, India and Pakistan, where he recorded the landscape and people of the region through painting and photography. He has lived and painted in Asia for 15 years, which explains why critics find his work a blend of artistic and cultural sensibilities from both sides of the Pacific. After completing his Master in Fine Art in Australia, he recently returned to California to be near his family.