Ever since one of my first assignments in Basic Photo was “Types,” I have loved artists whose oeuvre consists of works that all look fundamentally the same.  The fact that each of these paintings has animals depicted straight-on and centered in the frame and standing on a white tablecloth makes them so much fun to look at, like you can predict what you’re going to see but you still search for similarities and differences.  Is there a black rotary telephone?  A spoon?  String?  Eyeglasses?  I could spend hours looking at these images.

Bergin’s paintings are explorations of  “the still life genre and the idea of hunting and collecting.”  More from the artist’s statement: All these objects and creatures are presented on the white cloth as a kind of altar-like offering to the viewer.  The continuing presence of  the spoons, spectacles, telephones, guns and keys with which the creatures seem to be “drawing a spark from their contact” as Andre Breton suggested in his earliest writings, reminding us that life can be absurd, beautiful and sometimes like any fairy-tale, just a little bit frightening.

Visit artist's site: kateberginartist.com

Found via: Supersonic Electronic

Posted January 21st, 2014