Will Berry

statement:
In Will Berry´s abstract exercise every decision –gesture, mark, support, pigment, format– is conscious, it emerges from a selection process that the idea requires in painting. He does not marginalize subjectivity, although this is not evident; he draws his experiences only to erase them through painting. His work engages the changes in light and color of the city, its built architecture and density of people, combined with quotes of nature observable when the visual contamination is edited.

Impulse is a word that is not in the lexicon of this painter; patience is, as well as, discipline and perseverance, and form the basis of his pictorial exercise of veiling and covering up again figures and drawings that reside behind the last layer of pigment on linen, applied spontaneously finishing the painting.

Victor Zamudio-Taylor

Exhibition catalog, Como Agua Fria, Caja  Blanca Gallery, Mexico City, 2009

exhibitions:

 The Night of the Iguana

Ahead of Ourselves

Detail 

Light of the Luberon

Rituals: A Benefit for the Elephant Sanctuary

Zeitgeist Gallery Print Portfolio 2008

artist's website:

http://willberrystudio.com

 

En el ejercicio abstracto de Berry cada decisión-gesto, marca, soporte, pigmento, formato-es cociente, surge de procesos de eliminación que requiere la idea en pintura. No marginaliza la subjetividad aunque esta no se evidente, traza sus vivencias solo para borrarlos con pintura. Su labor obedece a los cambios de luz y cromáticos de la urbe a su densidad arquitectónica y a las aglomeraciones de ciudadanos, a las citas de naturaleza que se observan cuando se edita la contaminación visual. Impulso es una voz que no aparece en el léxico del pintor. En contraste, la paciencia y una ardua labor fundamentan su ejercicio pictórico de velar y cubrir de nuevo figuras y dibujos que habitan detrás de la ultima capa de pigmento sobre lino, misma que aplica con espontaneidad cerrando así como remate el cuadro.

WILL BERRY

1954, Nashville, TN

Lives and works in Mexico City

 

Education

1993                MFA Painting, Boston University, Boston MA

1981                BA Architecture, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN

1976                BA English literature, Hampden-Sydney College, Hampden-Sydney, VA

 

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2014    Oro Sobre Azul Zafiro, curated by Sandra Cerisola, Franz Mayer Museum, Mexico City

            I Saw the Sun, curated by Victor Zamudio-Taylor and Sandra Cerisola, Page Bond Gallery,             

            Richmond,VA

2013    The Night of the Iguana, curated by Victor Zamudio-Taylor, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville, TN

2011    New Works, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA

2010    Music of the Stones, William Berry, Museo Universitario del Chopo, UNAM, Mexico City

2008    La Luz de Los Colores, Vanderbilt University Law School, Nashville, TN

2007    The Pull of the Air, Bentley Projects, Phoenix, AZ

2006    Cambio de Tiempo, William Berry, Museo Nacional de la Estampa, (MUNAE), Mexico City

            New Work, Will Berry, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA

 

Selected Group Exhibitions

2015     Réquiem (for VZT), curated by Raul Zamudio, ARTR Trafico de Arte, Mexico City

2013    Gold Rush, curated by John A Reyes, Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, AZ

2011    NOW: Works from The Jumex Collection, curated by Victor Zamudio-Taylor, Instituto

            Cultural Cabanas, Guadalajara

            Illuminate, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA

            La Muerte Blanca, Galería de Arte de la Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público,

            Mexico City

2010    Efecto Drácula: Contemporary Art & Youth Cultures, curated by Victor Zamudio-

            Taylor, Museo Universitario El Chopo, UNAM, Mexico City 2009

            Cold Press, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA

            Como Agua Fría, curated byVictor Zamudio-Taylor Caja Blanca, Mexico City

 

Grants, Commissions, Art Projects

2011    Music of the Stones, William Berry, documentary,The Pacific Ring of Fire Mexico

            and Guatemala, Prospect TV Production for French-German Public Television Arte

            camera: Jürgen Hansen, editor: Frédéric Frankel. Four part series that presents peoples 

            and cultures along the Pacific Ring of Fire, their ceremonies, rituals,and mythologies.

            Soubes, France

2007-2011

            Music of the Stones, a multi-disciplinary project studying visual pattern and its potential

            for music composition, funded by Stavros Niarchos Foundation, New York, NY,                          

             administered by North American Art Projects and Research Corporation, Franklin, TN

2009    Fuente de la Luz, design for mural in mosaic for Victor Manuel Borras, Chiconcauc, MX

2008    Las Salinas, design for mural in mosaic for Four Seasons Hotel, Punta Mita, Jalisco

 

Selected Catalogs

Now: Works from The Jumex Collection, Instituto Cultural Cabañas, Guadalajara, 2011

Aperturas, Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico City, 2010, Efecto Drácula, curated by

            Victor Zamudio-Taylor, Mexico City, 2010

Music of the Stones, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Mexico City, 2011

 

Selected Collections

La Colección Jumex, Ecatepec, MX

Try-me, Richmond, VA

Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, VA

Museo Franz Mayer, Mexico City

Museo de Arte de la Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público, Mexico City

Museo Nacional de la Estampa, Mexico City

Tennessee State Museum, Bridgestone-Firestone Trust, Nashville,TN

Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsvillle, ALA

EMI, New York

Vanderbilt University Law School, Nashville, TN

University of the South, Sewanee, TN

Four Seasons Hotel, Punta Mita, JAL

Andreas Dracopoulos, New York

Bárbara Garza Lagüera de Braniff, Mexico City

Miguel Ortiz Monasterio, Mexico City

Nathan Followill and  Jessie Baylin, Nashville, TN