ELLENVILLE, New York — During a visit to Michael Berryhill’s basement studio in November, the word “GUILLOTINE” was scrawled in charcoal on the wall, reflecting his charged feelings about the country’s political climate. Following Zohran Mamdani’s recent election as mayor of New York City, Berryhill remains hopeful despite his concerns. His home, a relic of the 1950s complete with plywood floors and pink-tiled bathrooms, offers a unique form of resistance against the era’s conformity. Together with his wife, musician Eleanor Friedberger, Berryhill has transformed their space to include a music studio and performance area, alongside his art studio.
Berryhill’s art is similarly defiant, characterized by a vivid array of pinks, oranges, blues, and yellows that appear especially dynamic under his preferred fluorescent lighting. His paintings, much like those of Philip Guston with their unsettling pinks, resist traditional image-making. Working with a dry brush, he uses the canvas’s texture to both create and challenge forms, with some artworks depicting recognizable subjects like lions or birds, while others lean toward abstraction.
Born in 1972 in El Paso, Texas, Berryhill earned his BFA from the University of Texas, Austin in 1994, and later attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. He completed his MFA at Columbia University in 2009. He has held solo exhibitions at several galleries, including Derek Eller Gallery and Kate Werble Gallery in New York City, Night Gallery in Los Angeles, and international venues like La Maison de Rendezvous in Brussels and Galería Marta Cervera in Madrid.
In an interview with Hyperallergic, Berryhill recounted his early encounters with art, influenced by local sculptor Luis Jiménez, and his childhood fascination with drawing, spurred by the world of Star Wars. Despite his parents’ advice against pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts, he followed his passion for painting and printmaking at UT Austin. There, he was influenced by professors like Peter Saul and inspired by talks from figures such as Leo Steinberg, which encouraged him to explore the strangeness in art.
Reflecting on his time at Columbia, Berryhill described the transition from a decade-long career in advertising to pursuing his MFA. He credits his mentor Charline von Heyl with teaching him the value of creating art that surprises even its maker. Berryhill’s creative process involves starting with simple sketches and allowing them to evolve without a predetermined plan, leading to works that blur the line between abstraction and recognizable forms.
