Kate Bergin: Table of Contents

The virtuosic paintings of artist Kate Bergin take the viewer on a playful expedition through the absurd and the profound. Strange gatherings of animals and objects are configured in impossible scenarios on the brink of collapse atop tables draped with white cloth, alluding to the conventions of seventeenth century Dutch and Flemish still life painting. Yet Bergin's compositions are far from 'still'. They pulsate with movement as animals prepare to leap from the canvas and birds take flight, and yet these moments are frozen in time like mimetic dioramas. 'As a still life artist the idea of bringing life back to the tabletop is an irresistible one', Bergin explains. It is in this dialogue between stasis and motion, stability and precariousness, that the artist seeks to find.

Starting from a humble red apple on a white cloth at art school, I added little insects. The insects became butterflies, the butterflies became birds, and the birds brought the fox. I look back on my work after 30 years and it sounds like a song.

Bergin recalls a time her submission to a still life competition was disqualified for being alive and altogether un-still. In response Bergin continued to break the rules. Over time her creatures have become more lively, more animated, standing atop the table taking ownership. In this collection of works Bergin employs metapainting (a painting within a painting) as an opportunity to further disrupt our notions of the genre. In many of the works, the black film noir telephone dial reads 'In case of emergency dial 170', acting as a reminder that not all is as it appears. Bergin tacitly tells us that this could be a cautionary tale, one that reveals the proximity of danger to desire, savagery to civilisation.

The title for this exhibition, 'Table of Contents', alludes to the practice in literature where a list of the sections is presented at the front of a book. In this collection each painting brings a cast of characters and fantastical circumstance, together they form chapters in the story Bergin chronicles which considers the history of still life painting while looking forward into the future. She reflect 'these are the contents of my table ... mixing history with humour and everything in between.'