Clive van den Berg’s decades long career is multi-faceted – an accomplished artist, activist, heritage consultant, researcher, exhibition designer and university lecturer. Porous is a survey of his work over more than 30 years, circling around his two primary themes, love and land. He has developed a personal lexicon made of visual elements that he uses repeatedly across his sculptures, paintings, prints and drawings. “What makes Van den Berg’s practice distinct is his interest in the porous – porous skin and porous land.”
Through painted and sculptural works Van den Berg explores the uneasy relationship between what’s familiar and seen above ground and the altogether more mysterious landscapes below; the realm of geology and mining, as well as burial and the repressed.