Neither black nor white, but abstract all over

Broken-record-like allusions to Picasso and surrealism tend to make most artists cringe. However, Michael Berryhill, SoA ’09, does not need to worry about such references because the artwork in his first solo exhibition, “Basement States” at Horton & Liu gallery in Chelsea, seems to evade such classifications.

The layout of the gallery itself provides a comfortable atmosphere in which viewers can engage in dialogue with individual pieces, and its ample wall space allows the artwork’s bright colors and distinct line compositions to pop. At one end of the gallery, a group of smaller paintings arranged in close proximity reminds us that the gallery is still a business where wall space correlates to dollar signs.

Berryhill is a self-proclaimed “late bloomer” and relishes his first solo exhibition as a commitment to a vocation he loves. He entered into the New York scene at age 37 after a career in advertising. He counseled younger artists in a sage-like manner to “realize that life is long and you can keep going. You can always turn it around.”

Before pursuing a Master of Fine Arts at Columbia, Berryhill enjoyed exposure to other artists, visiting countless New York gallery shows. During his years of study at Columbia, he welcomed critique with the mentality that he could both learn from and clash with the philosophies of other creative students.

As the title “Basement States” suggests, Berryhill experiments with earlier masters’ cubist techniques in order to depict the gray area between the creation of meaning and misinterpretation. The piece “Behind the Music” invokes elements of popular culture through its name and subject matter, a fragmented rock stage scene. Berryhill calls on vibrating brush strokes to evoke sound and describe the physical state of being in a “rock moment.”

He refered to his paintings as “as much mirrors as windows,” inviting varied interpretations. His open-ended philosophy confounds interpreters who try to assign him to a specific modernist movement. In fact, gallery owner Frank Liu commented that, “It is not easy to break out of certain styles” and applauded Berryhill’s “fresh take” on the movements that have come before him.

Whenever a current painter’s work acknowledges aesthetic breakthroughs such as cubism and surrealism, the artist risks misclassification as yet another canvas-shattering ventriloquist. Yet, Berryhill’s abstraction is not an act of groupie loyalty to artists such as Picasso, Dali, and Klee.

For Claire Ruud, a friend of the artist and an art journalist, Berryhill’s work champions experimentation. She notes that the transition from creation to public reception is a theme that concerns the painter. Some artists feel plagued by both inner critique and public roasts of art reviews. For Berryhill, however, the critique he receives enriches the dialogue he has sought to initiate with his New York public through his work.