Abstract Compression

The Abstract Compression works bear relation to some works of Pop Art, notably the highly stylised brushstrokes that feature in a number of Roy Lichtenstein’s paintings. But where Lichtenstein appropriated and adapted cartoon imagery, Myles-Berkouwer appropriates and adapts the commonplace tools of digital imagery, such as the digital brush and gradient fill tools, to create works that couldn’t have been made in a previous historical moment.

Visually and in terms of process, Myles-Berkouwer’s paintings allude to a reality and human experience that is increasingly mediated by technology. His pictures are an indirect record and hand-produced rendering of the interaction between human and machine, rather than the simple interaction between an artist’s brush and ‘his’ canvas.