Neptune Factor 1973

John Conrad Berkey made Neptune Factor with paint, though exactly when is something of a mystery. The colours are moody and deep, all blues and greens, like the ocean swallowing the light. The paint handling in this piece is all about the brushstrokes, you can practically feel the bristles moving across the surface. Look at the shark’s teeth; they're not carefully rendered, but suggested with quick, confident strokes that give the whole image a sense of urgency and drama. The texture everywhere is alive with the marks of the making process. That little submarine, dwarfed by the shark and the immensity of the ocean, is really striking. It's like a tiny spark of human ingenuity against the deep unknown. Berkey reminds me a little of Syd Mead, in that his art is about imagining other worlds. The lack of a fixed meaning opens up a whole ocean of possible stories.