Wallace BERMAN 
Untitled (Shuffle), 1969
Acrylic paint and verifax collage
33 x 35,5 cm (13 x 14 in.)
BER1969-900

Price Upon Request

Wallace BERMAN, Untitled (Shuffle), 1969. BER1969-900

In the Shuffles the artist deliberately breaks all the codes he had himself put in place in the main Verifax Collages series. While carefully laid out next to each other in the grids, the meticulously cut-out hand modules are now partially overlapping in a fan shape on a colorful background. Aware of Berman's interest in card games and gambling, the onlooker might naturally read this arrangement as the stroboscopic motion of a hand swiftly dealing cards. But the polysemous title could also be a nod to the dance performed by James Brown, whom Berman admired. Moreover, it appropriately self-describes the method the artist applied to switch from the strict order and quietness of the monochromatic grids to the contrasting casual arrangement and vibrancy of the multicolored Shuffles.