Refractions

“Refractions" opened on July 17th, 2025 at the Mriya Gallery. Curated by Aidana Bergali, this group exhibition features new works by Brittany Clifford, Erik Sommer, and Saint Chalom.

Like the three edges of a prism, artists with distinct visual languages come together into a single vivid spectrum that is this exhibition to reflect on the space between temporality and timelessness of being - the intangible. Similar to how the prism refracts light, the canvases display the fragmentation of dreams, feelings, and experiences that pass through the artist, which are preserved in the form of color, strokes, and stains. 

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Brittany Clifford’s ethereal works channel raw emotion through the mediums of watered-down acrylics, spray paint, and oil pastels, crafting dreamlike, transcendent compositions that live in a liminal state - somewhere between softness and intensity. The artist herself often refers to her paintings as a means of articulation, taking the form of songs in color or stories told in abstract verses. Brittany’s emotional and immersive artworks are the ones one has to feel, rather than interpret, playing on the exhibition’s themes of reflection and transformation. 

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In contrast, Erik Sommer, through his work, aims to manipulate material and time itself. Saturated with a considerable amount of spray paint, layered, and stained through controlled chance, his raw canvas works are meditations on decay and permanence. Destroying the top layer to reveal the beauty of what lies beneath, Erik’s process echoes geological time and memory, presenting pieces that seem both contemporary and ancient. 

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Saint Chalom’s “organic abstracts” bring a spiritual dimension to the exhibition. Painted in the elevated natural sanctum of the Dandenong Ranges of Australia, his mystical works “express the wonder of the created realm in a meditative and worshipful way,” made to be vessels of spiritual blessing and healing. With “Chalom” meaning “dreamer” in Hebrew, the artist, inspired by nature’s transience, creates a dialogue with the mortality of the earth and the immortality of the divine. 

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This exhibition can be seen as the refracted emotions, memories, and spirit of distinct, yet complementary artistic voices, immersing the viewer in vivid dimensions of color, texture, and shape. Refractions is a meditation on the intangible, conveyed through the tangible, inviting the viewer to feel, reflect, and embrace abstraction in all its meaning.