It might be easy to dismiss Berger’s paintings as just another take on landscape realism; but that conclusion would be an incorrect one. The paintings are as much about the art of painting as they are a material representation of nature’s reality. One can see the space and attempt to enter it, but at the same time there are these webs of paint film that make one aware of the flat surface and how it is manipulated Cezanne-like from one edge to the other. A consummate master is here moving our eye about the canvas and in and of our forms while still giving us an emotional lift that belies what would otherwise be an academic exercise. We look, we ponder and the next time we are somewhere that is similar to the painting’s image we will look harder, longer and with more emotion than we ever did before. Isn’t this what great art should do?

Watch a one minute video (QuickTime) or (Windows Media) of the exhibition: Aspects of Nature