Berenice Pliskin

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

My love of color and light, and the spontaneity that the silk painting medium provides, gives me the opportunity to fully express myself.  It persuades my imagination to retrieve new images and transfer them onto the silk surface.  The impression left by the resist and the dyes leads me to further invention.  The idea that I never know what will be coming next is a powerful incentive to paint.

I sometimes set up still life material and work directly onto the silk.  At other times I develop a set of imagery and work in watercolor and collage before using dyes.  The medium is always playful and unpredictable.

Many of my ideas have a basis in my dreams and are a sort of personal mythology.  I often dream that I’m walking in The Bronx where I spent my childhood.  I know every inch of my old neighborhood by heart, and I see how my experiences appear in some of my paintings.  

I owe a debt to Henri Matisse, whos paintings I have loved since childhood.  Other strong influences include Romare Bearden, Jasper Johns, Elizabeth Murray, Stuart Davis, plus prehistoric cave art.