Christian Ruiz Berman’s paintings are a multilayered exploration of migration, adaptation, and ecology. The artist—who primarily works with oil and acrylic—uses visual media to ponder complex concepts, employing his paintbrush to, “examine the notion that each person, animal, and object is not only an essential component of the present moment, but an entangled element in a greater apparatus of constant change and adaptation,” as Ruiz Berman phrased it. 

For example, one piece that the painter produced during his time at Fountainhead, Saint Valentine’s Return (2023), unpacks themes of “artificial intelligence, cultural objects, and intrapersonal connection.” The aforementioned work consists of two 20- by 30-inch paintings, creating a diptych that shows a striking arrangement of chrome-colored hands, crescent moons, and multicolored lines. The dynamic composition imbues the canvases with an ethereal quality, and the decision to make the painting diptych instead of a continuous piece lends to the disjointed and dream-like feel of it. Such formal choices (and others, like the addition of hands) also subtly hint at these ideas of human connection and subconscious realizations.  

Other paintings in the artist’s oeuvre—such as Yepyollotli (the gift of every moment) (2022)—use historical artifacts to examine how we can find beauty in even the most quotidian occurrences. This piece depicts a wooden sculpture holding a chalice in its left hand, a bird with a string of pearls draped over its body, and a series of vines snaking around the other elements of the painting. 

“Yepyollotli” is a word for “pearl” in Nahuatl, and the painting is an allegory for living with gratefulness, moment to moment,” Ruiz Berman explains. “The statue in the painting is a giver- he presents us with the pearls of each minute of life.” 

This sensibility is omnipresent throughout Ruiz Berman’s practice, and the painter continues to find ways to bridge the gap between his personal heritage, collective experiences, and natural phenomena. 

“My work emphasizes the idea that magic and surprise always happen as a result of shared experience, cross-cultural inspiration, and the subversion of established tropes and identities,” Ruiz Berman said. “I like to question the human animal’s centrality in the cosmos, and engage a fascination with the diversity and inherent tension of life’s web.”