Artist: Jake Vanden Berge

LBF Contemporary presents I Made My Bed of Flowers and Now I Have to Step in It, a solo exhibition by Los Angeles-based artist Jake Vanden Berge. Through an evocative exploration of memory and nostalgia, Vanden Berge’s debut solo exhibition reveals a body of work that merges suburban landscapes with dreamlike imagery, capturing a haunting, cinematic view of the ordinary.

Drawing inspiration from the suburban environment of his Whittier, California upbringing, Vanden Berge’s oil paintings use colour and composition to blur the line between the tangible and the imagined. Initially influenced by comic art, Vanden Berge evolved his approach from early sketches to layered works that evoke the feeling of a fleeting dream. His works juxtapose the familiar with surreal elements—a woman’s lips, fields of tulips, or fragmented faces—inviting viewers into intimate, reflective moments where beauty and impermanence coexist.

Among the featured pieces in this exhibition is ‘Nymph and Satyr, 1828’, which references the 19th-century painting of the same name by William Etty. Vanden Berge’s interpretation pays homage to Etty’s original while introducing his own distinctive modern perspective. By placing feminine imagery alongside vibrant, fragmented floral landscapes, the piece echoes themes of allure and ephemerality, inviting viewers to explore the contrast between historical romanticism and contemporary perception.

Vanden Berge’s works distil the quiet beauty of everyday moments into surreal contrasts, challenging viewers to reflect on the fragility of memory and the unique resonance of personal history. Each painting in I Made My Bed of Flowers and Now I Have to Step in It captures a delicate balance between nostalgia and the surreal, offering a window into the artist’s deeply cinematic world.

Jake Vanden Berge (b. 1989, USA) is a LA-Based, self-taught artist who paints striking juxtapositions exploring the hazy threshold between memory and nostalgia. Drawing inspiration from a suburban upbringing in Whittier, California, Vanden Berge’s oil paintings use colour and composition to blur the line between the tangible and the imagined. Highlights of recent exhibitions include ‘All Killer, No Filler’, One Trick Pony, LA, 2024; ‘Metal Perfume,’ at 2-3 Fair, LA, 2023; ‘Heaving Is A Basement’, Soho House Downtown, LA, 2023 ; ‘This Must be the Place I Waited Just to Leave’, 2-3 Fair, LA, 2022.