Iοίην David Berkovitz solo show at Blue Gallery

Paper, Light and the Possibility of Going Beyond

From May 30 to June 30, 2026, Blue Gallery in Venice presents May I Go Beyond, a solo exhibition by David Berkovitz curated by Giovanni Gardini. Bringing together a selection of recent works, the exhibition offers an insight into an artistic practice that has developed a distinctive language through the use of paper and the transformative act of cutting.

The title derives from the Greek word ἰοίην – "may I go" – and evokes one of the key ideas underlying Berkovitz's work: the impulse to move beyond a threshold. Yet this "beyond" does not suggest an escape from reality. Rather, it points to the possibility of encountering reality differently, discovering unexpected perspectives within the material itself.

Paper, templates and a cutter are the essential tools of his practice. With a reduced, almost ascetic vocabulary, Berkovitz creates works that move beyond two-dimensionality and unfold as structures shaped by light and shadow. The cut is never an act of rupture. It becomes an opening, a passage. Surfaces bend, separate and rise, creating spaces that invite a slower, more attentive gaze.

The exhibition includes works from the series Divaricazioni del Bianco Venezia and Divaricazioni dell'Oro Venezia. Here, white and gold function not as decorative elements but as instruments of perception. White evokes fragility and suspension, while gold captures and reflects light, intensifying the sense of depth generated by the incisions in the paper. What first appears to be a uniform surface gradually reveals layers, shadows, oxidations and details that emerge only through prolonged observation.

In his accompanying text, curator Giovanni Gardini notes that Berkovitz's work is sustained by the belief that another possibility always exists, a dimension that becomes visible only to those willing to pause and look carefully. This idea is mirrored in the making of the works themselves, which are the result of a delicate balance between control and vulnerability. Every cut is irreversible and admits no margin for error.

Particularly significant is Anime Salve, a work centred on the remnants of the creative process. Thin strips of paper, usually discarded, become the very substance of the composition, rising into space with a sense of movement and lightness. The work reflects one of the recurring concerns in Berkovitz's practice: the dignity of what remains at the margins and the possibility of transformation through attention.

Without explicit references, these works enter into dialogue with some of the defining artistic inquiries of the twentieth century, from investigations of space to practices that transformed the surface of the artwork into a mental and symbolic field. Berkovitz's paper constructions seem to inhabit an intermediate dimension, suspended between object and environment, material presence and imagination.

At a time shaped by the rapid consumption of images, May I Go Beyond proposes the opposite experience: an invitation to slow down, to remain with the work and to cross its openings, allowing light, shadow and emptiness to suggest new ways of perceiving the real.