When Mia Bergeron set out to paint for her next solo exhibition at Gallery 1261 in Denver, she had the idea of creating multiples and small works, but over time the show morphed. Around the onset of the pandemic in April 2020, Bergeron began to reevaluate what was important about her work and why she was painting.Mia Bergeron with a grid of her 10-by-8-inch flame paintings.

“There was this nagging feeling that there was something in the work that I hadn’t gotten to delve into a bit deeper and excavate more,” Bergeron says. “I found myself going back, which a lot of people did during that time. I was just digesting it all.”

Bergeron returned to a large-scale commission she painted in 2015 for a private collector in Napa Valley. “It was a huge piece, 16 by 8 feet, with all of these flames and based on a French Canadian folklore,” she shares. “I realized that I don’t feel done with that theme. I kept going back to the flames and how they’re easy to represent and how you can work with a light effect. It felt really simple, and I kind of needed simplicity.”Apparition, oil, 36 x 42"

When talking again with David Ethridge, co-owner of Gallery 1261, Bergeron shared her new concept of having a tighter exhibition centered on a core theme of the flame. As she began to explore its symbolism, her art began to develop naturally. The exhibition, titled Luminalia, will likely feature 41 paintings—to mark Bergeron’s 41 years of life—and will include a grouping of 32 10-by-8-inch paintings as well as larger- and medium-sized artwork.

The pieces feature ephemeral moments, but they are painted in a way that shows movement—wind sweeping across the scene, a roaring ocean, atmospheres filled with tension or bewilderment and beauty. In each work the flame takes on a different role, just as it does in life. The compositions allow the viewer to explore the visuals freely and find their own associations based on what the flame can mean to them.Tranquil Ghosts, oil, 36 x 36"

Two tonalist landscapes—Luminalia, bearing the same name as the show, and Ancestors—are among the simplest of the paintings. They are vast and open, and a bit of an experiment for Bergeron, who usually paints more complex compositions. It was her way of showing that ideas still come across with minimal cues. And just by putting the landscape and flames together, the sentence or thought is complete. Bergeron also mixed wax in with the oil for these landscapes, making an ethereal atmosphere.Luminalia, oil, 12 x 16"

Her imagery is often unexpected, such as the diptych Being and Becoming, which shows a fish diving into the water in the panel Being and then jumping up out of the water toward the flame in Becoming. The paintings can stand alone, but together are about movement and the concept of seeking. “It’s the chasing and the feeling of becoming,” Bergeron elaborates. “You could look at them in different ways; they could be ironic or not. It’s chasing the carrot through life, because we’re baited constantly. That’s not always a bad thing. You could seek it, and you get it and it makes your life better. For instance, you can have a great relationship—something that makes your life more whole and seeking after that could be a great thing.”Being and Becoming (diptych), oil, 16 x 40"

In Tranquil Ghosts, a silhouetted figure sits on a boat against a brightly lit background of light coming from Buddhist lanterns of remembrance or prayer. The idea of combining a beautiful scene with a beat-up boat was intriguing to Bergeron. “I’ve been wanting to work with these lanterns. They represent something to me, and I find them visually beautiful,” she shares, adding that the woman in the painting is her sister. “It’s interesting to portray this woman that I love deeply and figure out how
I show that without going overly sweet…Breath, oil, 30 x 36"

I wanted to show the spiritual realm without it being overly obvious and there’s this irony of having this beautiful scene and a boat with the gears. It’s this paradox of something quiet and beautiful against this machinery that makes it feel a bit like life. There can be messy, ugly parts and these really profound, beautiful, quiet, mysterious moments that are happening.”

Two works depict flames in nature, causing a bit of discomfort with the beauty of the scene. Apparition has a deer with flames on its antlers as well as candles using leaves as their holders. Then, in Breath—a painting that’s a nod to Andrew Wyeth’s Wind from the Sea—Bergeron shows a view down onto a roaring ocean and a tree with candles in the foreground. The gust of wind, as in Wyeth’s work, is felt strongly through the composition. The movement and passage of time unite.Ancestors, oil, 18 x 24"Every work that is in the grid of 32 paintings features a single flame. They are based on color, themes, abstractions or stories, and can be arranged together or individually. “They’re almost like looking at a birthday cake, but there are no cakes in the show,” Bergeron says. “You could arrange them in a round room and be standing at the center of the cake. That’s very time oriented.”

As she developed the ideas for the group of paintings, Bergeron found that the flame really represents elements of time. Flames mark birthdays and celebrations, it is used in prayer and mourning, and it even reflects destruction and uncertainty. “It’s this old symbol that keeps coming up,” says Bergeron.

Luminalia will be on view January 7 through February 4. —

Luminalia
When: January 7-February 4, 2022
Where: Gallery 1261, 1261 Delaware Street, Suite 1, Denver, CO 80204
Information: (303) 571-1261, www.gallery1261.com 

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