SAN FRANCISCO -- Leonard Breger doesn't believe 'the beast in us' is necessarily a bad thing, and he proves his theory by creating whimsical monsters that dangle and dance.
Inspired by prehistoric cave drawings, the 67-year-old artist invents odd-looking creatures on masonite boards, which he then cuts out, paints and displays from ceilings, walls and even the floor.
Breger says he's constantly surprised by the 'mystery and magic' of the images designed to spring to life in a flickering light. His latest show, 'Environments,' runs through April 30 at San Francisco's avant-garde Vorpal Gallery.
'We talk about the beast in us, which isn't necessarily bad,' says Breger. 'I don't see the beast as a negative creature but a positive one.'
Breger's works blend the media of sculpture and painting. In a room of changing light, the shapes take on a three-dimensional form with lifelike shadows.
A Brooklyn-born artist who first studied with his brother-in-law, Alexander Dobkin, Breger left New York following a stint with the Air Corps in World War II, arriving in San Francisco in 1950.
Although a working artist and art teacher, Breger said the inspiration that led to his current specialty -- and a complete break with rectangular art -- took place in the 1960s when he visited the art caves of Lascaux in the Dordogne in middle France and in Altamira in Santander in northern Spain.
At Altamira, he said, he took a tour of the art caves and then waited alone in the cavern to soak in the images when a French tour group arrived. The guide, he said, turned off the lights in the area and switched on a big flashlight that he moved about, bringing the ceiling drawings to life.
'I suddenly realized that the prehistoric artists made the drawings by fire, which is moving light, and that the images were moving,' said Breger, adding the experience released him from the linear or rectangular method of creating art.
'My works now sit in space,' said Breger. 'Once I'd broken with the rectangle, I could follow the shapes and cut them out, and they can be displayed out from walls like sculptures.'
Breger, who has had many major art shows during his career, said his most interesting gallery is his home, where he lives with every creation for months before releasing it for public viewing.
The house in San Francisco's Bernal Heights district isn't hard to spot, he said, because there are two big beasts painted on adjoining garage doors of a colorful, hand-tiled house that he shares with his wife, illustrator Beth Pewther.
'It's really an event, the whole house,' said Breger, who still has one wish he'd like to pursue as an artist -- working in a cave.
'If I could find the right cave, I'd love to do some cave-painting,' he said. 'Now that's what I would call finding my roots.'
