At the end of the entrance hallway to the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive is a living room, and it’s not like any other. With high, beaming windows and purple patterned floors, Sarah Cain’s site-specific installation in the museum’s Barbara and Gerson Bakar Atrium is an echo of domesticity and a welcome shout of color.
Titled “To—you know—you,” the installation is a careful use of the gallery’s space, working to blend the vibrancy of museum installation with inviting intimacy. Viewers are invited to engage with the space, which includes block-colored and spray painted couches and a pooling carpet of color. A sunny view of Oxford Street seems to act as the left wall of the functional art piece; Cain projects a shadow of the window’s unique beams as a silver reflection onto the right side wall.
Cain’s wall design works with geometric shapes and heavy blocks of bright color which fade into loose paint strokes and drips. Her work feels both thoughtfully planned and wrought with excitement — fittingly combining the inviting powers of creative spaces with the practicality of actual lived-in environments.
A floating shelf, several feet too high for human reach, is camouflaged among purple, yellow and black vertical lines that are suspended in a pattern of uneven geometric shapes. This constellation, however, is crafted with a border of shining silver paint, while the corners and edges of each parallelogram are straight and precise. The four vases on the shelf are also perfectly matched in hue to the column behind them. For Cain, there is intention behind every abstraction.
Embedded in the gallery’s window is a matching triangular panel of stained glass. With circles, curves and too many colors to count, this small cutout feels like a sample of the work reflected on the perpendicular wall. In a rectangle beside the window, a similar collage of color is rendered in red. Airbrushed outlines of plant leaves and watery, textured purple strokes show Cain’s understanding of not only color, but also playfulness. Each section of this unique grid appears concerned not with aesthetic perfection, but rather the interaction between every part.
Three large diagonal sections act as shrinking brushstrokes; starting high with imperfect edges and narrowing towards the floor where it intersects with the ground and pools out into huge, curling walkways. Cain appears intricately aware of the interaction between a physical space and the way it is ornamented; the right corner of a couch matches the rectangle on the wall above it, both painted a vibrant turquoise with a scalloped edge.
A similar large scallop-edged section curves out from the front wall and onto the back wall in large watery strokes of pinks, reds and blues. Overhead, a pair of pink sneakers float, suspended within a section of matching neon pink. At every turn, Cain proves her understanding of dimensionality and color.
Delicate drips of paint extend toward the floor from these large painted splotches. However gravity-dependent, their placement feels intentional; each color acts in careful balance with its surroundings, erupting from the white background. A pink-and-yellow sprayed couch is anchored with teal grid lines over its cushioned indents, and a grid of unconventional shapes hangs from the ceiling. Curled canvas strips in precisely corresponding colors act as this small piece’s frame — nearby, a hanging bow and pink yarn function as similar couch-framing decor.
Two couches, decorative vases, painted walls, patterned carpet, loose shoes, one framed art piece and some random knick-knacks: sound like a familiar living room? How about: stained glass, a rainbow wall, towering window and spray-painted furniture? Cain creates an invigorating combination of functionality and creative eruption. With intention, color and a clear, unique vision for an inhabitable museum space, “To—you know—you” challenges audiences to find more joy in every domestic space. Why not paint your kitchen walls in stripes of neon pink?
Sarah Cain’s on-site installation will be up until June of 2027.