Timothy Berry: Circumstances

San Francisco artist Timothy Berry shows a new series of paintings evolving from his ongoing exploration of humankind’s futile struggle to control nature. Berry draws from the decorative arts of the past two centuries, which reflected our efforts to contain the wild beauty of nature through stylized representations of flora and fauna. These historical patterns are turned into paintings that seem themselves on the verge of exploding from their borders, literally like wildflowers.

These wildflowers have, in fact, escaped their stylized bondage and roam freely in a series of newer paintings. In these, Berry recalls one of his earliest lessons in art as a child: the paint-by-numbers set. Images of animals segmented and numbered offer a wry analogy to our attempts at mastering the natural world. Another childhood symbol, the Easter egg, also comes into play. Berry is interested in the evolution of secular holidays from their religious origins — which leads to, for example, the bizarre association of egg hunts and chocolate bunnies with Christ’s resurrection. Another reference to our appropriation of nature to decorative ends, the Easter egg is also a potent symbol of life and renewal — in Berry’s world, nature always wins.