SIRI BERG at ETS Brodsky Gallery
Kenneth Martina
The ETS Brodsky Gallery in Princeton is host to a series of works by the New
York-based artist Siri Berg. The artworks are a selection of seven paintings
and an equal number of Japanese woodblock prints.
The paintings range
in size and technique——from minimalist oils that adhere to a grid to
a large scale paper pulp painting rendered in a medium imported for that specialized
surface. The artist has spent a lifetime in quiet allegiance to color, the grid
and residual design sensibilities of her native Sweden. Her process demands a
careful mixing of oil paint and a quantitative application in careful steps onto
her square compositions.
Printmaking, an
interest of Berg’s since the mid-nineties, is focused on the Japanese woodblock
technique. Collage is sometimes incorporated into the print surface. What begins
as a culture-bound process is taken to another level with careful carving that
is evidence of Berg’s own thinking. The wood block material itself is from
the forested regions of Japan, but the prints planned in the ambient light of
the artist’s studio and are very much an expression of a multi-layered New
York existence. She admits, however, that the Asian aesthetic is an almost subconscious
consideration.
Berg is an artist
of international recognition but she never relies on familiar formulas. Her successes
build through explorations. Her philosophical center is a weighing of opposite
terms: light and dark, heavy and light, fear and comfort. She reflects that it
is never known where her processes may lead. The range of works within a mature
aesthetic demonstrates her ability to take risks and to be very personal through
what, at first glance, may seem cool and distant. The works at Brodskey Gallery
demonstrate that there is a calm and a well thought out beauty in Siri Berg’s
mature works.
