Beneath the Surface
24 x 24" | Mixed Media on Canvas | 2025
Part of the DIG Series by Precious Burger

“Beneath the Surface” is a 24 x 24-inch mixed media painting that initiates the emotional excavation central to DIG: Excavating the Self—a series that explores identity, memory, and the unseen forces that shape who we become. Rooted in intuitive abstraction, this piece functions as a visual dig site, reaching into the depths of ancestral connection and inherited presence.

Rendered in soft neutrals, layered textures, and translucent color fields, the painting evokes the silence before memory. Ghostlike forms and fossil-like marks emerge gently from the surface, offering a sense of time suspended—before breath, before language, before story. The ethereal suggestion of two faces hints at the quiet strength of those who came before us, and the legacy they leave behind in gesture, spirit, and love.

Using earthy ochres, mineral blues, and gestural mark-making, Beneath the Surface invites viewers to reflect on the foundational layers of their own life—those shaped by family, lineage, and the unseen emotional terrain we often forget to name.

As with all pieces in the DIG series, this work blends symbolic storytelling with expressive, contemporary mixed media techniques to create a meaningful and immersive visual experience.

Beneath the Surface is ideal for collectors drawn to abstract art that explores memory, emotion, and the human story beneath it all—art that doesn't just hang on a wall, but invites you to look inward.