The title Entropvisions is in homage to my mother, the poet and art critic, Harriet Zinnes. In 1990 New Directions published a collection of her poems titled Entropisms, a word she made-up combining entropy - the tendency toward disorder - and tropism - the growth towards or away from a stimulus. Similarly, my short reviews combine entropy and tropism by suggesting growth towards a vision of art from the chaos of the art world. Through the back door, my title also pays homage to my physicist father, Irving Zinnes, whose long discussions with my mom got her thinking about entropy and tropism in the first place.
Emily Berger at TenBerke Architects
2023.12.3
How much glowing light can be brought into a grid of large linear brushstrokes? The answer, discovered in viewing Emily Berger's
solo exhibition at TenBerke Architects (41 Madison Ave at 26th St.,
17th floor), is “seemingly infinite.” Though at first glance, Emily’s
process of slowly accruing layers of loosely rectilinear brushstrokes
appears straight-forward, when given the long, meditative look that her
paintings deserve, the sensitive, instinctive, and subtle color and light
emerge and create a mystery of pure paint. Flecks of light here, dry
brush there, wet and thicker brush down below, gentle warm and cool
color shifts – all these variations, plus many more, make Emily’s
paintings testaments to the glory of quiet focus, being in the painter’s
rhythm of mark-making, musical color harmonies, and ultimately worlds
with unique drama and personality. Some paintings feel assertive,
others shy, some feel questioning and worried, and still others offer
hope. A visit to the exhibition, up through Dec. 8, will quiet your
holiday frenzy and global anxieties, and bring you into an inner space
of calm belief in the values that truly matter. Be sure to read the
sensitive catalogue essay written by Karen Wilkin, and also be sure to
RSVP events@tenberke.com so your name will be at the lobby desk. The
space is open Mon-Fri from 9am-5pm.