Wallace Berman

Why this artist matters now

Wallace Berman was an American artist and printer who worked across assemblage, collage, and verifax, a photocopying technique he used to create layered, densely worked compositions. Active in Los Angeles from the 1950s onward, he pioneered the use of verifax as a fine art medium, combining found images, text, and photographic reproduction in works that anticipated both conceptual and appropriation practices. His practice engaged with Jewish mysticism, science fiction, and mass media as equal visual and spiritual registers. Berman's work was exhibited at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles and remains influential among postwar artists working with mechanical reproduction and vernacular imagery.

Source: Thehole · Trust score: 100% · Updated 1mo ago