"Ocean Emergence" (2022)

Acrylic on Canvas
60 x 90 inches

Kelly Berg’s paintings and mixed media sculptural works explore the ever-shifting nature of our world. Her work depicts the movement of tectonic plates, volcanic eruptions, and dramatic geologic formations, offering a new perspective within the context of contemporary landscape and the sublime. The integration of geometric forms within her compositions and the reoccurring imagery of pyramids emerging from dark rifts in the earth create a visual framework that symbolizes a convergence of the human and natural worlds.

Many of Berg’s works occupy the space between painting and sculpture using metal mesh, plexiglass shards, and the extension of the painting to the sides of the canvas to suggest topographies and geologic formations. Through Berg’s work and explorations in various media, she creates a visual tension between danger and beauty expressing an overall sense of a world constantly in flux.

While being an imagined volcanic landscape, “Ocean Emergence,” was inspired by Berg’s many visits to the Big Island of Hawaii and witnessing several of the recent volcanic eruptions at Kilauea. This piece reflects on the formation of islands through volcanic activity in the ocean and the cycle of creation and destruction. The black pyramid symbolizes the volcanic energy rising up and emerging from within the earth and beneath the ocean waves.