Chris Berens is a Dutch painter boscovs whose work features a fantastical mélange of exotic creatures and 18th century imagery in soft focus. Startling, photorealistic, and distorted; his narratives feature totem-like animals and childlike people floating through dreamy European cityscapes, or decrepit ships in stormy seas shimmering as if in a fevered dream. boscovs Berens show opens on February 5, and runs through the 28th. Building on classical glazing techniques that recall the work of Vermeer and Rembrandt, Berens constructs his compositions through boscovs painting on layers of emulsion, 1-3 inch pieces of plastic coating, and paper; resulting in an incredibly luminous and uniquely textured piece that flows seamlessly into a cohesive image. Each section has been been painted numerous times and layered over and over. This technique boscovs creates images with such depth that along with his technical perfection it creates the illusion of a digitally composed or manipulated image. However, once up close and in person, boscovs it is evident that these works are created and painted by hand with painstaking skill, time, and precision from beginning to end.
Artist Statement: "There is a place where stories come from and where stories boscovs go once they're told. All creatures and their fortune and fate, their destiny and history reside in it, they live and re-live their lifecycle as long as they are imagined, told, retold, remembered and believed in.
"In this place, deserts may be adjoined by snow covered plains, compass points can never be established or trusted, traveling from one end of the world to the other may take mere moments, and places right around the corner might be far beyond reach. Day and night do not necessarily happen in succession, forests can seem endless to a traveler or an effortless pass through to the next landscape, and landmarks signify a phenomenon, an episode, a circumstance or incident rather than a geographical place.
Building boscovs on classical glazing techniques that recall the work of Vermeer and Rembrandt, Berens constructs his compositions through painting on layers of emulsion, 1-3 inch pieces of plastic coating, and paper; resulting in an incredibly luminous and uniquely textured piece that flows seamlessly into a cohesive image. Each section has been been painted numerous times and layered over and over. This technique creates images boscovs with such depth that along with his technical perfection it creates the illusion of a digitally composed or manipulated image. However, once up close and in person, it is evident that these works are created and painted by hand with painstaking skill, time, and precision from beginning to end. Statement: "There is a place where stories come from and where stories go once they're told. All creatures and their fortune and fate, their destiny and history reside in it, they live and re-live their lifecycle as long as they are imagined, told, retold, remembered and believed in. In this place, deserts may be adjoined boscovs by snow covered plains, boscovs compass points boscovs can never be established or trusted, traveling from one end of the world to the other may take mere moments, and places right around the corner might be far beyond reach. Day and night do not necessarily happen in succession, forests can seem endless to a traveler or an effortless pass through to the next landscape, and landmarks signify a phenomenon, an episode, a circumstance or incident rather than a geographical place. Therefore, mapping this place is a peculiar, subtle and delicate matter and must be handled with the greatest of wonder, provision and discretion. Welcome to Nethermoor. [note: characters, scenes and concept are loosely based on Michael Ende's die Unendliche Geschichte, in English the NeverEnding Story]”
back to top
Life of Cats @ Japan Society, NY
Opening
No comments:
Post a Comment