Kermit Berg makes a return appearance at Gallery plan b during FotoWeek. Three years after his work Economic Miracle was shown in 2008, his multi-layered photographs in Tokyo Night Office recall neon-inspired memories of time spent in Tokyo while referencing the city’s vulnerability and strength.
As described by curator Laura Gilbert, “Kermit Berg’s light creates a separate, emotionally remote place. His photographs depict natural light streaming into what might be termed contemporary urban cathedrals.” In his current portfolio, Tokyo Night Office, the vast stretches of fluorescent lighting indoors and the neon lighting outdoors in Tokyo have been a powerful influence. The vibrancy of colors in the Tokyo streetscape is inescapable and affords him the opportunity to expand his palette from the muted and monochromatic tones previously preferred by him. In addition, Berg adds, the vibrancy of Tokyo’s inhabitants inspired his return to dynamic multi-image layering of photographs. One work, Black Facade, is intentionally dimmed in respect for the great natural and man-made tragedies that followed his experience in Tokyo. But the city retains its tenacity and he chose to finish the first group of prints with the vital energy emanating from “White Lanterns”.
-Angela
