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The Japan paintings deal with subjects that reveal human intervention. Rice paddies are not nature nor are coins in a pool of water. Ginkaku-ji Coins 1 2011 and Ginkaku-ji Coins 3 2012 are downward views into a shallow pool in a stream that runs through a temple garden. The surface-vs.- depth duality recurs the water mirroring a bit of sky and a tree branch the reflective coins on the pools bottom signaling explicit depth. The majority of the Japan works were painted after Berlind returned to his studio in Cochecton New York. They are based on drawings watercolor studies and occasionally photographs he made while in Japan. Two paintings in the current exhibition depict the studio itself. In Studio Roof 4 2015 the artists upward gaze encountering a metal roof and a pair of skylights recalls the vantage point which produced the Nanzen-ji paintings. Studio Door 3 2014 is the most mysterious and spatially complex work in the show. Curving vertical lines on a white wooden door that forms the right half of the image represent a painting of trees done several years earlier the vertical white bar bisecting the door is a structural element. Near the paintings center we get a narrow glimpse into a dark interior at its far wall a window looks on the greenery beyond which also continues at the left side of the canvas. The exhibition presents a dialogue between two worlds. These two studio paintings retain the restrained manner of the Japanese works while adapting it to local subject matter. The current exhibition shows Berlind exploring new territory with compelling results. Elizabeth C. Baker New York 2015