LYDIA VAN DEN BERG
In her bright, whimsical paintings, Bulgarian artist Lydia van den Berg transcends our hectic modern world, grounding the essence of our human experience within her signature clear, enthralling artistic forms. She has coined the term “Magical Poetic Realism” to describe her stylized images, which showcase elements of the real world that are reconfigured within a context of poetic freedom and fantasy. Blending surreal and fanciful elements with the abstract, van den Berg displays in her images a cheerful world as discovered and imagined by children, applying a professional, technically precise method to create subjects and vistas with a refreshing sense of liberty.
Within the world of van den Berg’s art, the magic of imagination always dominates, pointedly ignoring conventions of realism and the classic perspectives of space and time. Rather, her images reflect an instinctive harmony of color and intensity, and balanced compositions of geometric forms. Using lucid and well-defined lines, two-dimensional forms, and bright, contrasting colors, van den Berg provides a window into the oft-forgotten perspective of the child, re-exploring the boundaries of what might be called home and the terrains of daily life to find a simpler approach to the human condition.
The broadness of van den Berg’s artistic vision has been inspired by her lifelong travels throughout Northern Africa and Europe, where she has been touched by the people from all the different cultures she has visited. A common thread running through all her journeys is her observation that all cultures find their survival and safety within both the geographic and intangible boundaries of home. The universality of this theme woven throughout her paintings is part of what makes her work so fresh. As she explains, “[Here] I am true to my feelings and my art.”
Lydia van den Berg lives and works close to Zurich, Switzerland. She is also the author of seven children’s stories.
www.Agora-Gallery.com/Artistpage/Lydia_van_den_Berg.aspx
WRITEN BY Agora Fine Art Gallery and Team – Chelsea, Manhattan, New York, United States PHOTO IMAGE Can you Touch the Sky – 29”x 21”, Acrylics on French Paper BFK Rives, Solo Exhibition AGORA Gallery “No Boundaries”, Manhattan, 2011
PUBLISHED BY ARTis Spectrum, 2011