ZIVA BERGERSON – SKURNIK

ZIVA  BERGERSON – SKURNIK

I create collages that create themselves and, in the process, create me anew.
From the fields of Philosophy and Cultural Studies I arrived at art, starting with Art Journaling – working in various creative techniques in a book/journal format. Of the various techniques available, I found myself returning, again and again, to creating collages, as private works, not meant for public viewing. Starting with a single central image, the compositions continued to grow. Images and symbols manifested themselves: figures of people and animals – imagined creatures that conflated man and nature, the familiar and the “Other”. The resulting collages were surreal, like daydreams.
I never plan my collages ahead of time. That would be impossible. My work is wholly intuitive. Often, I feel like I’ve hit a dead end. Sometimes I get stuck in the initial stages of choosing a central figure and beginning the journey; other times I get stuck in the search for secondary figures to accompany him.

ZIVA BERGERSON – SKURNIK on Art Market Magazine

When I come to these dead ends, the scraps of paper come together of their own accord and autonomously start their journey for meaning along the expanse of white. The connection between the figures and the story that wants to be told isn’t always clear to me amongst the endless possibilities.
It often feels like the collage will never come together – the feeling that something is missing or out of place. That’s when I begin to search for an element that will bind all the figures together. There were times that I, or rather the collage, asserted that a crocodile, or some other animal, should be added. The reason why that animal came up only became clear once the collage was complete.
With time, I understood that it was up to me to expose these “Dream Stories” to the world. Many times, as I worked, I felt that I wasn’t working alone; it seems, without intending to, I make use of the collective unconscious and a deep base of collective knowledge that is far deeper than my personal knowledge.
For this reason, I believe my collages convey universal messages and create dream stories that “belong” to every person, as their own. I only tell these dream stories, in layers of paper and colors, manifested in the reality of the here and now.
It may seem like color and papers are the building blocks of a collage, but that isn’t so. My collages are built slowly from the blocks of the soul – from the building materials of the Self – with layers of color on top.

Dance of Autumn Colors. Special technique, collage, acrylic colors and acrylic markers on paper. 58×58 cm

I feel as those collages and the layers I put on top of each other are translating the dull weariness of daily life into color. Thanks to it I am able to shake the dust from my true self, take off some of the layers it gained over the years and let my soul shine anew, again and again, with each of my collages.
The use of “ready made” and the various references to the great artists of history served as a bridge to the past. Their re-contextualization in my collages served as a bridge to the future.
I create these collages intuitively, without knowing the symbolism of the images as I create. Only afterwards do I research the symbolism, to better understand what my subconscious was attempting to reveal.
Looking at my work in different contexts – different lighting, different times of the day, from up close or afar – reveals new aspects of them each time.
Each collage holds as many stories as there are unique viewers and independent viewings. Each act of looking reveals something new – a new story.
Painting “gives the visible existence to what profane vision believes to be invisible,” said Maurice Merleau-Ponty, the French philosopher. He examined space as which direct the painter/artist, as the viewer, back to themselves. I wish you will be able to think the same of my creations, as a ‘space’ that directs you to your inner self, reviling the wonder of the invisible.

ZIZOOMI – is an invitation for you to zoom-in to my work. The first two letters of my name Ziva, + zoom + “i” for “in”, became a name with an idea that I love.
I would be glad if you looked closely at my works, zoom-in and found within them details or stories that speak to your soul, connect to your own personal Dreamscape. As they are rich in images and symbolism, I hope they will awaken your curiosity and will evoke the hidden story- teller-artist in you.
I am curious to hear those stories connecting to my work. I will be thankful if you agree to share them on my website, so other people could read them too. In this way it will be an ongoing joyful work of art that combines us all.