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JANE SAUER GALLERY will be exhibiting Santa Fe artist Michael Bergt’s new body of work August 12 – September 6, in an exhibition entitled “About Face.” Bergt has received attention worldwide for his exceptionally beautiful artworks combined with meaningful narratives relevant to the contemporary human condition. His purpose is to create beauty but also to arrest the viewer’s eye by setting forth some seeming contradiction or paradox inherent in our lives: "My intentions are to challenge and identify the perceptions of our mind’s eye.” A student of the European masters for many years, Bergt mastered his technique and the very difficult medium of egg tempera. His work astonishes viewers by the way he combines old world draftsmanship--not often seen in contemporary art--with a highly contemporary vision. His choice of egg tempera and colored pencil as his mediums require mastery and perfection that few living artists can match.
Bergt is a figurative artist who prefers to draw the human figure from life: “There’s a tension, a limited amount of time that the body can hold a pose, and I draw out of it, in a limited time, something that defies those limits.” He has been described as “representational but not realistic.“ Male or female figures, fully modeled in lifelike renderings, generally occupy the focal space of his compositions, but he situates the figures within an imaginative context, a flat space filled with symbols and images: “I’m fascinated by myths and symbols, their constant ability to transcend the facades of life, creating a short-hand for meanings.”
"OMEN"
Michael Bergt
Egg tempera and gold leaf on panel
27 1/2" x 21 1/2" (33 1/2" x 27 1/2" Framed)
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"NAVIGATING INFLUENCE"
Michael Bergt
Color pencil and gouache on toned paper
18" x 14 1/2" (27 1/4" x 22 3/4" Framed)
Bergt’s creation of a contemplative, complex narrative in his works is apparent in his description of “Undergrowth,” a colored pencil and gouache artwork: “This portrait has an unexpected element in it. The rope tied around her skull seems to be drawing a line between calm and chaos. On one side her hair is a mass of unruly curls; on the other side, a picture of calm order. Her face is also a picture of calm order, but the swirl of her hair suggests there is something powerful being reigned in. The complex knot on top of her head has been guided by a higher influence, keeping her upright and aligned. The fantastic vegetation behind her is a metaphor for the wild forces channeled into order.”
Bergt’s narrative in “Omen”, a large egg tempera painting on panel with gold leaf, is similarly complex: “The black crows behind the portrait were from Japanese screens. I loved the way the birds all had their beaks open, as if announcing something. The man is looking over his shoulder as if he’s aware of something behind him, or wondering if something is following him. I wanted to create an air of suspense around him. The flat patterning of the black crows creates that psychological tension to frame the subject’s state of mind. They are like a message, or a warning of some sort. Perhaps they’re an omen.”
Critic John O’Hern recently said about Bergt’s work: “Throughout his work, Bergt suggests that the particular situations of his subjects are metaphors for situations we all face and endure. There is comfort in the commonality of the situation and the process, even if there is no suggestion of resolution. His faces exist in a condition of potential.”
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