"An artist is a historian - there is a truth in art that cannot be found in history books."
Being Realistic is Delusional, Kimber Berry, mixed media on canvas
Alan Avery Art Company's next segment of "In Studio With" is taking a behind the scenes look at one of our beloved California-based artists, KIMBER BERRY! This month, the painter, photographer, and collage artist was chosen to answer ten unconventional questions about her unconventional art and what is was like growing up in LA.
5. When did you know you were an artist?
KB: When I was five and I did my first large site-specific painting on our long driveway ... that infuriated my mother.
If They Call Me Crazy, Will I Still Be Your Superman?, Kimber Berry, mixed media on canvas
1. Do you have any guilty pleasures?
KB: Dark chocolate and travel shows.
2. You are creating a playlist to listen to while you work. What are the three songs that have to be included?
KB: Green Day - American Idiot, Muse - Uprising, and Train - Drops of Jupiter.
Did you know: The hit album Drops of Jupiter by Train features cover art by Atlanta artist, Tony Hernandez!
3. What is the strangest thing you believed as a child?
KB: I was an odd child, so it could be any number of things.
4. Do you believe in ghosts?
KB: No. I believe in angels. All humans are angels and we just don’t know it yet.
6. How do you think growing up in Los Angeles affected you as an artist?
KB: Growing up surrounded by over the top advertising and the glitz of Hollywood. This background was the genesis that fueled my desire to explore the psychological experience of living in an over-stimulated society, constantly bombarded by media noise.
Liquid Landscape #628-070808, Kimber Berry, mixed media on canvas
7. Have you ever been starstruck?
KB: I’m awed by the actions of people and individual art masterpieces. I love the way that art can become bigger than the artist who produced it and moves into a part of the universe. Perhaps, it was always a part of the universe and the artist’s role is to bring physicality to it.
8. Is there another artist you would like to collaborate with?
KB: There are so many amazing artists, a few are Jennifer Steinkamp, Polly Apfelbaum and Assume Vivid Astro Focus.
Installation view of The Potential of Women at Alexander Gray Associates, 2017
Polly Apfelbaum
Image courtesy of pollyapfelbaum.com ©
9. What inspires you?
KB: I find inspiration from both societal sources and from within myself.
10. Does originality exist?
KB: I believe originality exists but it is much more challenging to obtain today than say fifty or sixty years ago. Advances in technology have inspired new art processes in photography, video, television, and computers. Altering thought and process widens the definition of art to encompass the advances as society expands. An artist is a historian - there is a truth in art that cannot be found in history books. Art is produced and represents the thoughts, beliefs, and hopes of the artist that produced it. A truer measure of a society, the society that produced the artist.
Things I Found in the Quietness, Kimber Berry, mixed media on canvas