Kendra in Art: Daytripper: Chris Berens at Roq la Rue

Charlie and I drove up to Seattle today to check out Chris Berens' first ever US show. I've only known about Berens for a few months and have been enthralled since the first image I saw. I knew I would want to see him in person and was nothing short of blown away, even having seen previews of the show. These pictures can do NO justice, but Kristen Anderson (Roq la Rue founder, owner, and curator) was kind enough to let me take some general installation photos and I would not pass up the opportunity. You'll want to click on the photos to see larger images, slightly more likely to give you an impression of what we saw.

It's hard to have a favorite of Chris Berens' works. His techniques and details, his figures and the world that he creates are absolutely stunning (quite literally -- some pieces made me forget how to breathe). But the truth is that at times I was overwhelmed! Some canvases were three or four feet wide with so much depth and detail that I found myself unable to fully process them, even after thorough study. With that in mind, one of the pieces that I was most drawn to was the smaller of the three shown in the photo above. It is called "Kiss", and portrays one of Berens' ubiquitous polar bears, nose up toward a deep blue, foaming wave. The image is somewhat small in comparison to the others in the show, and with fewer figures, it is much more manageable in a single viewing than some of the others. Anderson said that she continues to find new things in the works, even after a week with them. "Kiss", even in its small form, still contains the impressive and epic detail that one can see throughout his works. The polar bear's fur appears in certain places to be completely in focus, every individual hair visible. The water, as it is, captured just at the point of its descent, has a weight and also a lightness to it, suggesting that it might, like many of Berens' other subjects, simply be lighter than air and choose to float there continuously. And it is only as one stands, pondering this possibility, that the nose of a porpoise comes smiling through the deep blue, translucent wave. Like all of Beren's works showing at Roq la Rue (the show is entitled "Go West"), "Kiss" is playful, but awe inspiring. However, unlike some others, I don't think I would have to take the better part of a year out of my life to sit in front of it. This isn't to say that I dislike the amount of detail or the number of figures that Chris Berens uses; it is just to say that with awe comes some amount of deference, and this can be overwhelming.

Chris Berens studied illustration and, perhaps because of this, his works are very open to interpretation. The figures easily become characters, all fitting together and shown in different scenes. The piece that Charlie is studying above appears to have a reinterpretation of Seattle's Space Needle.

One thing that is unfortunately impossible to capture on film is the boldness of the patchwork that is created by the fact that Berens uses layers upon layers of clear plastic as his base to create the richness, and eliminate brush strokes. With good enough lighting to see any uniformity to the color and detail, you lose the depth of (and any shadow produced by) the sometimes quarter-centimeter-thick patches.

Clearly unable to purchase anything from the "Go West" collection, I consoled myself with a copy of his gorgeous (limited edition of 1000, and thick!) book, 2239, which I have only just opened. I am now hoping that I will be able to create some pieces influenced by Berens. Wish me luck!

After retracing our steps (people kept coming in and going out before I'd moved to a new painting!) too many times to count, we walked a few doors down to a little bistro/bar called Karma and filled our tummies with delicious food. The best part, though (not shown), was the scotch Charlie ordered: Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban. Aged in Port barrels.