Emily Berger

Biography:

Emily Berger lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. A graduate of  Brown University, she received an MFA in painting from Columbia University, attended the Skowhegan School in Maine and has been awarded several residency fellowships, including from Millay Arts. She is a recipient of the John Hultberg Memorial Prize in Painting from The National Academy Museum. Her work has been exhibited widely and reviewed in numerous publications such as The Hudson Review, Two Coats of Paint, Hyperallergic, and The Boston Globe. She is included in many private and public collections.  

Solo exhibitions have been presented at Starr Suites, TenBerke Architects, Walter Wickiser Gallery, Norte Maar, Scholes Street Studio, and The Painting Center, all in New York City. Recent exhibitions also include both Conversations and Cross Currents at Helm Contemporary; PLAYLIST, at One GAP Gallery; Form and Intent at Abstract Project in Paris; 11 Women of Spirit at Zurcher Gallery; and Side to Side, Three Ways at Key Projects, reviewed by Karen Wilkin in the Hudson Review. Berger is a member of American Abstract Artists and has been included in many AAA exhibitions such as Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1936-Present, On Balance, and The Onward of Art.

Education
Columbia University, New York, New York, MFA Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, AB, Minnie Helen Hicks Award in Art Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine International Center of Photography, New York, New York.

Exhibitions & Art Fairs:

One – Four Person Exhibitions (2005-2025)

2024/25 Spirit Level, Emily Berger, Starr Suites, Brooklyn, New York
2023 Chorus, Emily Berger, New Work, TenBerke Architects, New York, New York
Luminous Modulations, Emily Berger, Paintings, Anagram Gallery, online exhibition
2020 Side to Side, Three Ways, Key Projects, Queens, New York
2019 Syncopation, Emily Berger and Bob Seng, Odetta Gallery, New York, New York
2018/19 Emily Berger: Marking Time, Scholes Street Studio, Brooklyn, New York
2017 Emily Berger/New Paintings, Norte Maar Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
Rhythm and Light/Emily Berger, Walter Wickiser Gallery, New York, New York
2016 Abstraction 2016: Color and Surface, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT
Fifty Shades of Black & White, Amy Simon Fine Art, Westport, Connecticut
On and Off the Grid; Generating Abstraction, Kent State University at Stark, Canton, Ohio
2015 Wave Length, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
2014 vis a vis/ Emily Berger and Claire Seidl, The Painting Center, New York, New York
2013 Process and Synthesis, FiveMylesGallery, Brooklyn, New York
Seeing Through, (Paintings), 490 Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
Seeing Through, (Works on Paper), Soapbox Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
2011 New Work: Emily Berger, The Painting Center, New York, New York
2008 Emily Berger: Recent Work, The Painting Center, New York, New York
2005 Emily Berger and Iona Kleinhaut: Paintings and Works on Paper, The Painting Center, NY

Selected Group Exhibitions (2005-2025)

2025 Cross Currents, New York-London, Abstract Painting, Helm Contemporary, New York, New York
Small Paintings and Sculptures, 57W57 Arts, New York, New York
Mono-A-Mono, The Lockwood Gallery, Kingston, New York
Inner Being, Makowski Gallery, New York, New York
2024/25 Conversations: One Year at Helm, Helm Gallery, New York, New York
2024 PLAYLIST, 1Gap Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, curated by Heskin Projects
The Line Up, Cedar Crest College, Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Murray State University, Kentucky
100 Women of Spirit, Zurcher Gallery, New York, New York
Tenants and their Guests, Starr Suites, Brooklyn, New York
2023 On Balance, ArtCake, Brooklyn, New York, curated by Mary Birmingham
Sight Unseen, MyGalleryNYC, Brooklyn, New York, curated by Hanne Tierney
Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1936-Present, California Center for the Arts, San Diego, CA and
Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, Connecticut
2022 Sonic, Metaphor Projects, Brooklyn, New York
Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1936-Present, LSU Museum of Art, Baton Rouge, LA
Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1936-Present, Peeler Art Center,
DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana
Digital: American Abstract Artists Prints 2012-2019, Marsh Gallery, Herron School of Art and Design, Indianapolis, Indiana
2021 Magic, Metaphor Projects, Brooklyn, New York
9 Exquisite Corpses, The Art Section, An Online Journal, curated by Editor in Chief, Deanna Sirlin
Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1936-Present, Baker Museum,
Naples, Florida
Blurring Boundaries: The Women of AAA, 1936-2019, Freedman Gallery, Albright College, Reading , Pennsylvania
Digital: American Abstract Artists Prints 2012 – 2019, Gallery at the Visual and Performing Arts Center,
Western CT State University, Danbury, Connecticut
2020 11 Women of Spirit, Zurcher Gallery, New York, New York
AAA Digital Prints, 2012-2019, Transmitter Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1936-Present,
South Bend Museum of Art, South Bend, Indiana
Essential Works, Winter 2020 Exhibition, Odetta Digital, curated by Odetta Gallery
Thisness and Whatness, Felician University, Rutherford, NJ
2019 Form and Intent, Abstract Project, Paris, France
Portrait:The Kentler Flatfiles, Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, New York
Focus on the Flatfiles; When the Morning Gathers the Rainbow, Kentler International,
Brooklyn, New York
Continuity to Change: Recent History of American Abstraction
Tower Fine Arts Gallery, The College at Brockport SUNY, Brockport, New York
Exit 2019, Gallery MC, New York , New York
Exit 2019, Chungbuk-New York International, One Platform for New Future,
Chungbuk Cultural Foundation, Korea
2018 Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1936-Present,
Ewing Gallery of Art and Architecture, University of Tennessee, Knoxville and
Clara M. Eagle Gallery, Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky
Haptic/Optic, Equity Gallery, New York, New York
Between the Color, Site: Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York
The Idiosyncratic Pencil, Elizabeth Stone Harper Gallery, Presbyterian College, Clinton, SC
Personal Identity Matter, 2018, Gallery MC, New York, New York
2017 Intercontinental Line, ABSTRACT PROJECT, Paris, France
The Ritual of Construction, Kleinert/James Art Center, Woodstock, New York
Jeanette Fintz, curator
New Additions: Selections from the Kentler Flatfiles, Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY
2016 Painting is not a Good Idea, Hallspace, Boston, Mass.
Werner Drewes and 80 Years of the American Abstract Artists, Washington Printmakers Gallery, Washinton D.C.
Chromatic Space, Shirley Fiterman Art Center, BMCC; The City University of New York,
Jonathan Lippincott, curator
(Squared)2, Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Drishti: A Concentrated Gaze, 1285 Avenue of the Americas Art Gallery, New York, New York
Elizabeth Heskin and Patricia Spergel, curators
The Onward of Art: American Abstract Artists 80th Anniversary Exhibition,
1285 Avenue of The Americas Art Gallery, New York, New York, curator, Karen Wilkin
Visible Histories, Abrons Art Center and Morris/Warren Gallery, New York, New York,
Max Weintraub, curator
Nation IV, Through the Rabbit Hole, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
2015 Endless, Entire, Five Myles Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, curator, Rachel Nackman
between a place and candy; new works in pattern+repetition+motif,
1285 Avenue of the Americas Art Gallery, New York, New York, curator, Jason Andrew
Formal Aspects: Visual Dialogue in Structure, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, Mass.
Sarah Hinckley, curator
WorksxWomen, Vandeb Editions and Accola Griefen Gallery, Long Island City, New York
Family Ties, 500x Gallery, Dallas, Texas
2014 Sensory Impact, Morgan Stanley International Headquarters, Purchase, New York
To Leo, A Tribute from the American Abstract Artists, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
The Flatfiles, Year Two, TSA, Brooklyn, New York
Mind’s Eye or Ten Ways to Float, curatingcontemporary.com
We Love Art, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, New York
2013 3 Artists/3Weeks, 15 Artists in Black and White, Outlet Fine Art, Brooklyn, New York
Phaedo, StorefrontBushwick, Brooklyn, New York
2012 Paperazzi, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
AAA International 75th Anniversary, parisCONCRET, Paris, France
Abstraction to the Power of Infinity, The Icebox at Crane Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
Janet Kurnatowski, curator
New Editions, VanDeb Editions, New York, New York
AAA 75th Anniversary, OK Harris Gallery, New York, New York, curator, Ivan Karp
American Abstract Artists International 75th Anniversary,
Galerie oqbo, and Deutscher Kunstlerbund, Berlin, Germany
Splendor of Dynamic Structure: Celebrating 75 Years of American Abstract Artists,
Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
2010 American Abstract Artists International, Aragonese Castle of Otranto, Italy
Women’s History Month Invitational, VanDeb Editions, New York, New York
It’s a Wonderful 10th, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2009 Sharazad, Metaphor Contemporary Art, Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn, 440 Gallery, Brooklyn, New York curator, Florence Neal
2008 183rd Annual: An Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary American Art,
National Academy Museum, New York, New York
American Abstract Artists: Tribute to Esphyr Slobodkina,
The Painting Center, New York, New York
2007 Punchbowl, Metaphor Contemporary Art, Brooklyn, New York
Continuum, 70th Anniversary of AAA, St. Peter’s College, Jersey City, New Jersey
BrooklynNature, St. Joseph’s College, Brooklyn, New York
2006 Conversations in Paint, Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania
From Postwar to Postmodernism, Columbia University, New York, New York
2005 In Spiritus, RKL Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
Pintores de Nueva York, Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá, Colombia
Conversations in Paint, Akus Gallery, Eastern Connecticut State University, Willimantic,
Connecticut, and Andrews Gallery, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia

Traveling Group Exhibition
American Abstract Artists 75th Anniversary Print Portfolio Exhibition

2020 Transmitter Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
2017 University of Houston Clearlake
Wrather West Kentucky Museum, Murray, Kentucky
2016 U.S. Embassy, Beijing Embassy Annex, Beijing China,
Art in Embassies, U.S. Department of State, on permanent view
Biggin Art Gallery, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama
2015 Marywood University, Scranton, Penn.
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
2014 University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, Virginia
Martin Art Gallery, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Penn.
Sarah Moody Gallery, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
2013 UT Downtown Gallery, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee
Brattleboro Museum, Brattleboro, Vermont

Professional Experience, Honors

2022-24 Chair, Archives Committee and Interview Project, American Abstract Artists
2022 Panelist, Blurring Boundaries, LSU Museum of Art, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
2021 Panelist, Blurring Boundaries, Klein Lecture Hall, Albright College, Reading, Pennsylvania
2019 Panelist, Beyond the Gendered Lens, Pen and Brush, New York, New York
2018 Catalogue Editor, Blurring Boundaries, The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1936-Present,
published by the Ewing Gallery of Art & Architecture, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
2018-13 Vice-President and Exhibitions Chair, American Abstract Artists
2018 Visiting Artist, Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky
Radio Intervew, WKMS, Murray State NPR Station, October 22
2016 Visiting Artist, Kent State University at Stark, North Canton, Ohio
2016 Catalogue Editor, The Onward of Art, AAA 80th Anniversary Exhibition,
published by American Abstract Artists, New York, New York
2015 Panelist, Formal Aspects, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, Mass.
2014 Curator and Panel Moderator, Yearning Upwards, The Painting Center, New York, New York
2014 Curator and panelist, Karen Schifano, Paintings and Works on Paper,
Melville House, Brooklyn
Flatfiles, TSA Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
Geoform.net (ongoing)
2012 Flatfiles, Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, New York (ongoing)
2011 Panelist, Conversation with 4 Artists, Marist College, Poughkeepsie, New York
2008 John Hultberg Memorial Prize, The 183rd Annual: Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary
American Art, National Academy Museum, New York, New York
2006 Elected to Membership, American Abstract Artists
2004 Elected to Membership, The Painting Center, New York, New York
2004 Curator and panelist, Nature Abstracted, The Painting Center, New York, New York

Selected Bibliography

2024 Peter Schroth, Emily Berger: See Emily Paint, Two Coats of Paint, December 21
The Third Barn, The Line Up, catalogue
Veronique Chagnon-Burke, 100 Women of Spirit, catalogue
2023 Karen Wilkin, Chorus, catalogue
Mary Birmingham, On Balance, Catalogue
Alice Zinnes, Sight/Unseen, EntropVisions Blog , February 1, 2023
2021 Karen Wilkin, At the Galleries, The Hudson Review, Volume LXXIII, Number 4, Winter,2021
pp. 623-624
2020 Karen Schifano, Object and Metaphor: Berger, Lledos, and Uchiyama, Two Coats of Paint,
October 18
Stephen Maine, catalogue essay, Thisness & Whatness, Felician University, Rutherford, NJ
2019 Catalogue, Exit 2019, One Platform for a New Future, Chungbuk Cultural Foundation, Korea
Paul D’Agostino, @postuccio, Marking Time, Scholes Street Studio, January 20
2018 Rebecca DiGiovanna, Blurring Boundaries:The Women of AAA, 1936-Present, catalogue,
published by Ewing Gallery of Art and Architecture, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Radio Interview, WKMS, Murray State NPR Station, The Women Of AAA, October 22
John Michael Colon, Some Roads Yet Untraveled in Abstraction, The Brooklyn Rail, March 5

2017 Sharon Butler, Effects of Chance: A Conversation with Emily Berger, Two Coats of Paint,
November 13
Jason Andrew, catalogue essay, Emily Berger: New Paintings
Joanne Mattera, Rhythm and Light, Joanne Mattera Art Blog, Autumn in New York, Part 4:
Shape, Gesture, Surface
D. Dominick Lombardi, Emily Berger: Rhythm and Light, Huffington Post, September 26
Sharon Butler, Adirondack idyll, Two Coats of Paint, July 24
2016 Cate McQuaid, Spinning Paint into Gold at Hallspace, The Boston Globe, December 29
Art Collection of the United States Embassy Beijing, Art in Embassies, U.S. Department of State, catalogue
Rhiannon Leigh, Merry & Bright: Painting is Not a Good Idea, Artscope, New England’s Culture
Magazine, December 15
Karen Wilkin, The Onward of Art American Abstract Artists 80th Anniversary Exhibition,
Catalogue, published by American Abstract Artists
James Panero, The Onward of Art, The New Criterion, March
Tom Wachunas, On and Off the Grid, ”Intimate Trialogues”, Artwach, March
2015 Yifat Gat, The Black & White Project:A Survey of ContemporaryB&W Painting, published by
Look &Listen on the occasion of SLUICE Art Fair, London, in Saint-Chamas, France
Rachel Nackman, exhibition brochure esssay, Endless, Entire
Jason Andrew, catalog essay, between a place and candy:new works in
pattern+repetition+motif
Rhiannon Leigh, Formal Aspects at Cape Cod Museum of Art,
artscope, New England’s Culture Magazine, March 23
2014 Brett Baker, Yearning Upwards, Interview Blog Feature, Painters’ Table, Sept 25
Paul Corio, To Leo, A Tribute-Sideshow Gallery, on-verge, September 17
Kathleen Whitney, catalogue essay, vis-à-vis/ Emily Berger and Claire Seidl
Stephen Maine, exhibition brochure essay, Sensory Impact
Steven Alexander, Emily Berger, Claire Seidl, Mark Wethli, Steven Alexander Journal, April
James Panero, “vis-à-vis” at The Painting Center,
The New Criterion, Critic’s Notebook, April 14
Hanne Tierney, Five Myles (book), printed in China by Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.
2013 Jeanne Wilkinson, Process and Synthesis, Fall Season: Art in the City; City as Art
Steven Alexander, Superb Painters: Emily Berger, stevenalexanderjournal.blogspot.com, August
Enrico Gomez, Critic’s Pic, wagmag, September
Patrick Neal, The Many Faces of Abstraction, www. hyperallergic.com, July 9
The Ewing Gallery, catalog, AAA 75th Anniversary Print Portfolio, introduction by Robert Storr
2012 Hrag Vartanian, GOBrooklyn; Go Gowanus, www.hyperallergic.com, September14
2011 Eric Sutphin, New Work: Emily Berger, www.beardandbrush.com, June 2
Nancy E. Green, catalog, Splendor of Dynamic Structure,
Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
2008 Nancy Malloy, catalog, The 183rd Annual, National Academy Museum, New York, New York
2005 Artcritical.com, Emily Berger and Iona Kleinhaut, Paintings and Works on Paper, October
Joe Walentini, Artist Profile, Inside/Outside Space, AbstractArtOnline, March
2004 Maureen Mullarkey, Nature Abstracted. The New York Sun, December 9

Selected Collections

Art in Embassies, U.S. State Department, Washington D.C.
Capital Group
Charlesbank Capital Partners
Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio
Cornell Weill Medical Center
Delaware Art Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Department of Drawings and Prints, New York
Museum of Modern Art, Library Special Collection, New York
Morgan Stanley
New York Public Library
NYU Langone Medical Center
Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
U.S. Embassy, Beijing Embassy Annex, Beijing, China, Art in Embassies, U.S. Department of State
Whitney Museum of American Art Library

Statement:

¨I approach my paintings like writing or music, making deliberate and improvisatory marks with rests and breaks along the way. The vertical format is like a page for notation and also mirrors the body, inviting the viewer to experience the painting as if in conversation.  As I paint, my hand stops and stutters, making a variety of marks, pulses and intervals in a mix of rhythms, texture, and color, creating various kinds of space and light. The wood panels I paint on provide a warm, tactile and patterned ground on which to begin. I choose scale, color, squeegees, brushes and other tools, painting with oil in a primarily horizontal, sometimes vertical motion – layering, revising and reconsidering as I go; a malleable grid provides a loose structure for me. I select the colors and structure of the work, but with each pass, the unpredictable emerges. My intuitive response to these changes guides the painting’s evolution; chance and control are both at play. Variation and surprise, freedom within the structure of repetitive movement and mark making are the key elements of my work; they work as a way to combine and resolve the analytical and the emotional, the conscious and the unconscious, the rational and irrational. Within the limitations of the rectangle there is infinite room.¨