Gold Rush 1990

John Conrad Berkey made this painting, Gold Rush, and the medium looks like acrylic. The colours are vivid, and there's a palpable sense of depth, like peering into an actual underwater scene. The painting is smooth, but has an airbrushed quality to the sky above the water. It is as though everything is slightly out of focus, viewed through water, or fog. Looking at the space explorer, the gold bar is solid, but the surface is soft and the edges are blurred. Similarly, the highlights on the helmet are not hard and reflective, but smudgy. A similar effect is used for the light coming from the spaceship. The combination of soft, slightly unfocused edges is similar to that used by Syd Mead, who also painted visionary science-fiction scenes. This piece suggests the ongoing conversation of ideas across time. It embraces ambiguity and multiple interpretations over fixed meanings.