"It's All About Color #6", Japanese woodblock prints on archival board, 60x30"
For Immediate Release: November 1, 2008
SIRI BERG
“It’s All About Color”
Collage and Assemblages
November 20th – December 28th, 2008
Opening Reception: November 22nd, 4-7P
Franklin 54 Gallery is pleased to present collage works and assemblages by Siri Berg. Rich in color and design, the “It’s All About Color” series is comprised of 6 large panels of 20 individual rectangular Japanese wood block prints within each panel. The series starts with little color in the copper, grey and green range and transforms through each panel into the brilliance of fiery reds and oranges, blues and purples. Each individual print within is unique with interesting textures and designs, although still within Berg’s minimalism they complete a larger cohesive vision. The 4 panels in this exhibition are attractive and elegant with rich and subtle colors.
The remainder of the exhibition is a combination of collage works and assemblages that make for a striking contrast of the artist’s work in color and lack of it. Her assemblage works from found objects are again minimal in design and color. Industrial looking because of the materials and choice of grays, silver and gold, the pieces are simple and serene. The direct and clean works of the Coloratura group continue to reinforce Siri’s excellent use of design and color. Part texture (collage, oil on canvas, pastel on paper) and part flat surface, her use of line with geometric shapes in the horizontally moving base juxtaposed against the lines evaporating upwards makes for an effective image, although again subtle.
Opposites and progression have been an inspiration and an interest of this artist’s for many years.
Extra treats included in the show are Berg’s smaller colorful collages – “Red Hot” is a spatial textural beauty with its warmth of colors suggesting a floating landscape joined by a waterfall of sunbursts. Even smaller gems exist in the precious collage pieces under plexi – these modest works are small pieces of diverse papers combined from silver rectangles and squares with bright flashes of color - there are slight changes here but huge impacts from the different surfaces, some being dull and others shiny and slick.
Born in Sweden, Siri has lived and worked in New York City for many years; she is on the faculty at the Parsons School of Design. Berg has an extensive resume of solo and group exhibitions in the United States and internationally in renowned galleries and museums. Her works are widely collected privately and in major museums including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Jewish Museum, NYC. Cynthia Maris Dantzic recently profiled her in the book “100 New York Painters”.
