HALF/DOZEN PRESENTS John Berry

For Immediate Release

Level 1: Stage 1

John Berry
December 3, 2009 – January 30, 2010
Opening Reception December 3rd, 6pm-9pm

Contact: Timothy Mahan, Director, 503-816-6963 or tim@halfdozengallery.com

Portland, OR – Half/Dozen is pleased to present Level 1: Stage 1 by artist John Berry. This exhibition comments on ideas of ambition, isolation, illusionary spaces and transcendence. Berry received his BFA from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and, recently, his MFA from Indiana University. This is Berry’s first postgraduate solo exhibition.

The work draws on imagery from pre-renaissance landscapes, where space is determined more through the relationship of color and shapes than through volumetric forms. Berry integrates this with puzzles, mazes, forts and 8-bit video games, such as Super Mario Brothers and the original Zelda for Nintendo.

While exploring these vacant and disorienting landscapes, you start wondering where the hero of the game is, when you realize it must be you. As the hero of these worlds, what are you going to do? Who are you going to save? How many points are you going to get? With no obvious challenges or obstacles in front of you, finding the meaning of the challenge may just be the challenge itself.

Half/Dozen is located in the Everett Station Galleries at 625 NW Everett St, #111, Portland, OR 97209.

John Berry
Hidden Area with Secret Supply Shop, 2009, oil on canvas, 65 x 78 inches