Particulate Dream
Recently UN scientists stated that "Earth is getting so hot that temperatures in about a decade will probably blow past a level of warming that world leaders have sought to prevent, calling it a "code red for humanity".
It is hard to have hope, but other than falling into a pit of despair, having hope is the only option. Hope that corporations will be forced to comply. Hope that technologies will be developed in time. Hope that new generations will overthrow the social orders that place profit over a healthy planet.
~ LAUREN BERGMAN
• FULL ARTIST STATMENT
I have expanded my focus from an exploration of female identity within the constructs of the idealized, mythicized America, and move in a new direction in which the female is minimally present.
These paintings speak not only to personal loss, but to the underlying fears of our current cultural climate. As we slide closer and closer to global crisis – environments on the verge of collapse, an economy in which the disparity between rich and poor is ever-widening, threats of nuclear warfare, the fear created by having a madman as leader, and on and on.
I’ve begun to question whether there will be a future; or at least a future with humans in it. These paintings reflect my fears and yet also represent my hopes for the post-apocalypse. Maybe what remains after devastation will be the Utopia we had collectively imagined, rather than the dystopia we fear.
The surface of these paintings is torn and collaged astronomical maps printed on watercolor paper and the imagery is painted with gesso, polymerized litho-coal, and acrylic.
Lauren Bergman | New York City | 2018
Fuel Stop | 14” x 18” acrylic, litho-coal and ink on paper mounted on board | SOLD
The Gatekeepers | 60” x 40” acrylic, litho-coal and ink on paper
Elephant Crossing | 9” x 12” acrylic, litho-coal and ink on paper mounted on board | Private Collection
66 Motel | 14” x 18” acrylic, litho-coal and ink on paper mounted on board
Deer in Road | 9” x 12” acrylic, litho-coal and ink on paper mounted on board | Private Collection
Fuel Stop | 14” x 18” acrylic, litho-coal and ink on paper mounted on board | Private Collection
Rowing to Nirvana | 40” x 30” acrylic polymerized charcoal on torn map
Hopscotch | 9” x 12” acrylic, litho-coal and ink on paper mounted on board | Private Collection
Winding Road with Ostriches | 9” x 12” acrylic, litho-coal and ink on paper mounted on board | Private Collection
El Morocco Hotel | 14” x 35” acrylic, litho-coal and ink on torn paper mounted on board
The Messengers | 28” x 36” acrylic, litho-coal and ink on paper
Giraffes | 9” x 12” acrylic, litho-coal and ink on paper mounted on board | Private Collection
In the Time of Butterflies | 14” x 35” acrylic, litho-coal and ink on torn paper mounted on board
Holy Cow | 14” x 18” acrylic, litho-coal and ink on torn paper mounted on board