Opening Reception + Artist Talk: Angela Berkson: Controlled Burn

Angela Berkson: Controlled Burn
opening reception: November 8, 5-9 pm
artist talk: December 7, 2 pm
ongoing exhibition: November 8-December 7

From Angela Berkson

I never know how much to share. How much information is too much information when it comes to the backstory of a creative practice. For my latest paintings I think a peek behind the curtain may be helpful.

Emerging from the pandemic, I began to imagine setting fire to large swaths of my artwork, a radical act of defiance against the very essence of my creative identity. Yet, standing on the precipice of this self-imposed erasure. I started having visions of just the flames licking at my paintings, but how the actual flames would distort and consume those images. It then occurred to me that these paintings were comprised of wax after all, and I could visit upon them a flame (in the form of my heat gun and irons) to “re-create” these paintings through their near-destruction. This transformative shift in how I approached working with encaustic signals not just a change in technique but a reclamation of this narrative, where destruction becomes a gateway to reinvention and a testament to the restless spirit that fuels my artistry.

One of the reasons I love working with “abstract” imagery is that the viewer completes the experience by bringing their own perspectives and references when time is taken and permission is given to see what is felt