* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.
Chris Berens paints visions of his inyernal universe as if he sees it through an ancient handmade lens which warps and obscures his view of that curious place in unpredictable ways. His kaleidoscopic mirror world, inhabited by an exotic lost children, is richly represented with color palettes, environments and themes reminiscent of Golden Age Dutch painters like Vermeer and Rembrandt, yet its overall effect is vaguely disturbing, in the manner of Rosamond Wolff Purcell and the Brothers Quay.
"Chris Berens is creating work that begs you to look for longer than a lot of art does. There are details within details, and illusions where you least expect to find them. There are shapes that pop off of the screen, yet there are even more shapes within those that draw the eye in and hint at stories within stories. Clearly there are layers to his paintings, and what I love most about it is the way that the colors and subjects are seemingly of a fairy tale world, yet there is darkness within. If each component stood on its own, they might not seem so mysterious; yet when put together, they take on a new life that creates a story not yet told."
"I just adore Beren's paintings, he is a definite favorite of mine. Not only does he employ a pioneering painting technique that boggles the mind, but his images are truly "dream" like, in the way they are so evocative, enigmatic, and elusive."
