Category: News

Auld Lang Syne

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I am writing this on New Years Eve. A couple of weeks ago I was watching the second season of Beau Sejour, a beautifully made Belgian series (available on MHz.com). Members of a small community were gathered on the beach to memorialize a seven year old who had been found dead at that spot. They were singing Auld Lang Syne. I had never thought of that song before without its sadness being balanced, at least a bit, by the possibilities of a new year.

It was a fitting thing for me to watch. I had recently begun creating work for Aging Again, a series exploring the aging of the aged through portraits of a well-qualified somebody (yes, me). Here is a selection from the fifteen works.

A bloom
Multilayer archival pigment print on paper
Looks Vascular to Me
Multilayer photographic archival pigment print on paper
The Making of Me at the Centre Pompidou
Multilayer photographic archival pigment print
Nature Morte
Multilayer archival pigment print on paper
Questioning Legacy
Multilayer archival pigment print on paper
Dances with Doctors
Multilayer photographic archival pigment print (including photographic layer of one of my paintings)
Finding Fellowship
Multilayer photographic archival pigment print
Sing Me a Lullaby Please
Multilayer photographic archival pigment print
A Study in Grey and Graying
Multilayer photographic archival pigment print
Sleep Comes Best in Dreams
Multilayer photographic archival pigment print
Burning Bright
Multilayer photographic archival pigment print

Work Currently on Exhibition

January offers a couple of chances to see my work in person–and one to hear me discuss it.

Ode to Public Lands #9: The Spectacle
Multilayer photographic archival pigment print, 44 x 76
On exhibition through February 2:
Vashon Center for the Arts, 19600 Vashon Hwy SW, Vashon WA
Opening reception: Jan 3, 5:00 – 8:00 pm
Work previously exhibited, Centennial Center Gallery, Kent, WA, summer 2024
Frond’s Eye View
Multilayer photographic archival pigment print, 36 x 24
On exhibition through February 22:
CoCA Seattle (Center on Contemporary Art), 114 Third Ave S. Seattle
Artist presentations and moderated discussion, January 25, 3:00 – 5:00 pm

News and New Work, Summer 2023

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A New Medium

I’ve been developing some project in which I want to incorporate video. To that end I have been studying experimental video making with Althea Rao, a terrific artist who works across a range of media. Although I created Comfort Blinders as a learning exercise rather than as part of a larger project it does address one of my longstanding thematic interests: our eagerness to practice self-censorship over what is in plain sight.

Why Ask Me?

My latest project is a scalable ten piece installation of multilayer photographic dry sublimation works on aluminum. Although I have never used prints on metal before it seemed the best substrate for the project’s theme, which asks to reconsider our reliance on communications with our technology tools to solve social problems.

Why Ask Me?
Why Ask Me?
Multilayer photographic archival pigment dry sublimation print on aluminum
On exhibition: August 9 – September 24, 2023, Columbia City Gallery, Seattle

The central piece in the installation is the self-titled Why Ask Me? (above) includes images of the main content of the nine other components. Its larger size, 72” x 48” reflects the need to include textual detail from those other nine possible 45” x 30” elements as well as its role in tying the installation together. As you look at some of the other components below you will notice detail and text that are critical to the work but that do not show well above at web size and resolution.

In its ideal presentation if the space permits I would like to incorporate live video classification through which the hung work that would respond with a mixture of insight and error to viewer scanning of the various component works and at the same time prompt the viewer to record answers to component-specific questions.

Here are several of the other components:

I Could Never Get By Without Your Help!
Multilayer photographic archival pigment dry sublimation print on aluminum
Why Are the Ethics of Stronger Immigration Controls?
Multilayer photographic archival pigment dry sublimation print on aluminum
How Can Hate Win in an Enlightened Society?
Multilayer photographic archival pigment dry sublimation print on aluminum
What Makes this So Complicated?
Multilayer photographic archival pigment dry sublimation print on aluminum
We Can Fix This, Can’t We?
Multilayer photographic archival pigment dry sublimation print on aluminum

On Exhibition this Summer

Dates

Exhibition or Event

Location

Related Events
Aug 9 - Sep 24Heroes and Villains, Columbia City Gallery4864 Rainier Ave S
Seattle WA		Aug 12, 5 - 7 pm
Reception
Jul 6 - Aug 262023 Members’ Exhibition, CoCA (Center on Contemporary Art), Seattle, WA114 Third Ave S. Seattle, WAFirst Thursday receptions both July and August
Jun 7 - Aug 24Summer Art Exhibition, Centennial Center Gallery400 West Gowe St
Kent, WA		Jun 7, 6:30 - 8:00 pm
Opening reception and purchase awards ceremony
Jun 29 - Aug 1721st Annual Local Show, The Gallery at Tacoma Community College6501 S 19th St
Tacoma, WA		Jul 11, 4 - 6 pm
Reception

Other New Work

Art is a Bridge
Multilayer photographic archival pigment print on paper
Layers from the Englischer Garten, Munich; the Leopold Museum, Vienna; Mitte neighborhood, Berlin, during Berlin Gallery Weekend; Aurora Bridge, Seattle; Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle
© 2023 Neil Berkowitz. All Rights Reserved.
Wallflower Overgrowth
Multilayer photographic archival pigment print on paper
Layers a photograph of a painting of mine (acrylic and graphite on acrylic) and my photo that inspired the painting.

Catching Up

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My downsizing and move from my home of the past twenty years reshaped my priorities over the past nine months. So while I continued to send news to people on my mailing list I did not add new work here on my site. Given that I want to completely revamp the site, spending time on both my newsletter and the site would have been a wasteful duplication. So while I am posting new work today the best way to keep informed is to sign up for my quarterly newsletter (plus special editions as needed). I should add that some of the work is older, having been created during COVID but with printed incomplete until recently.

A Sampling of New Work

Quo Itur Humanitas
Multilayer photographic archival pigment print
Three Concurrent Sunsets. Possibly More.
Multilayer photographic archival pigment print
Fresh Air
Two sided multilayer photographic archival pigment print. To be placed close to wall (18″ for the 24″ x 36″ edition). The side with the top image faces outward. The bottom image faces the wall, on which a similarly sized sheet of reflective Mylar is hung.
Breakfasting with Ghosts in Vienna
Two sided multilayer photographic archival pigment print. To be placed close to wall (18″ for the 24″ x 36″ edition). The side with the top image faces outward. The bottom image faces the wall, on which a similarly sized sheet of reflective Mylar is hung.
Remembrance Pool
Multilayer photographic archival pigment print.
Blue Hour in Eden
Multilayer photographic archival pigment print
How Can It Be Eden if the Leaves Never Fell
Multilayer photographic archival pigment print
Exhibit Y: Where Once Was Eden
Multilayer photographic archival pigment print
Space Time in the Wetlands
Multilayer photographic archival pigment print
The Garden Seeks Its Depth
Multilayer photographic archival pigment print
July Overgrowth #3
Multilayer photographic archival pigment print

Other News

New Art and Ideas Blog

I’ve recently started The Intentional Observer, a blog hosted on Substack. The broad topic is the need to examine what is in plain sight more deeply. That requires us to see not only art but also our physical, cultural, and ideological worlds as made things. I’ll discuss how this affects current common challenges through illustrations from my own art and that of others. Although I will add my posts to neilberkowitz.com the easiest way to get new posts is to create a free subscription by clicking the link below.


Portfolio Walk on April 2

I will have a table with more than a dozen newly completed prints on view as part of a Portfolio Walk at the magnificent Photographic Center Northwest on April 2 from 12:30 – 2:00. (Another group of photographers will show their work a half hour later.) An even better reason to come is to see thei exquisite show that just opened in their gallery.

Photographic Center Northwest is located at 900 12th Avenue (at the intersection with Marion Street) in Seattle, just across the street from the west entrance to Seattle University.