Crystal Cove, Laguna Beach, CA

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”

Thomas Merton

Photo copyright 2009 Sophie Lumen

The encaustic work of Sheila Berger

Falling and Floating, 2006, 30'' x 45'' triptych

"Influenced by a lifetime of travel to some of the most remote parts of the globe, Berger's paintings are both a reflection of the visual richness of these experiences and a space to pause. Here, the world's fecundity is both marked yet stilled. As Berger's process is a slow and ritualistic one, the work likewise demands the viewer's quiet concentration, gift of time, and a willingness to listen to their silence.

Part of Berger's pleasure in crafting these paintings is the celebration of a technique unchanged for thousands of years: the melting of encaustic, repeatedly painting her special custom-made wooden panels until they have the desired texture.

The result is a tabula rasa awaiting Berger's impressions. With the introduction of pigments, and the use of wood-block patterns some centuries old--Berger, like an exacting alchemist, builds each painting into a palimpsest of memories, moods and emotion, welcome emptiness incised, such varied signs of life.

...Growth, change, creation – Berger's work is a hopeful and fertile present to us all."

By Adrian Dannat, for Paul Kasmin Gallery, 2009 www.paulkasmingallery.com

Sheila's work can also be seen at www.sheilaberger.com