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Spraygraphic Interview with Artist Bert Bergen
By Spraygraphic | April 22, 2009
Spraygraphic Interview with Bert Bergen
SG: Please tell us about yourself?
BB: My name is Bert Bergen. I grew up around the Puget Sound of Washington State. I was raised by libertarian atheists and spent a lot of time hunting, fishing and other such rural activities. Growing up around Olympia Washington in the late 80’s/ early 90’s exposed me to a lot from participating in the music scene at that time. I was able to see a lot of great bands and experience a self-sustaining music and art culture in practice.
I attended the Evergreen State College and made up my own classes with some faculty (this was a liberal arts school after all) that focused on photography and gender studies.
After school I wanted to get out of the looming dank nature of the Pacific Northwest so I moved to San Francisco.
When I got here I soon realized that photography was very expensive and so I began to focus on drawing more. Being used to a process oriented format of making art, as learned from photography, I applied this to my drawings and started taking screen-printing classes at the Mission Cultural Center for the Latino Arts Graphica Department. I was in a band called Appreciation at the time. We were touring, playing shows and putting out CDs, so there was a constant assignment for me to complete. This allowed me to focus on my technical skills and thematic concepts.
I am continually fascinated with ecstatic reality and the symbols, objects, rituals and myths involved to achieve this experience. Christian prayer groups, Whirling Dervishes, crystal healers, Reiki practioners, Shamans of the Tlingit Native Americans and Biodynamic Farmers all have faith in the interrelation and use of specific symbols, rituals, myths and sacred objects to bring about a desired affect. Applying this framework to the human and nature relationship has been a constant inspiration to me.
SG: Where do you currently live and work?
BB: I live and work in San Francisco. This environment is an ideal balance of urban grind and visceral nature. Where else can I feel the motivating energy of collective human necessity and, at the same time, ride my bike to vista that overlooks the violent and pervasive Pacific Ocean.
SG: What mediums do you work with?
BB: I use automotive paint on wood cut outs, gouache and sewing machine thread on paper, screen-printing and performative rituals involving sound that are magico-religious in nature.
SG: Describe your working process when creating a new work.
BB: When I start a project, I view my existence as a sponge. In this state I am a being who’s sole purpose is to absorb. I want to gorge my self on information that is in alignment with a specific theme. Once I am bloated with these psychic nutrients, I begin to squeeze it out. During this phase the totality of my existence filters the information I have gorged on. By that I mean I draw and write and get everything out without editing. There is no discerning between my actual experiences and what I have absorbed. From here I start to shape the drawings, concepts and writings into a focused beam.
SG: What kind of things do you do when you get blocked or find it hard to create something?
BB: If I am blocked, it is usually because I have not left my studio for a few days. To prevent this I listen to David Borden’s Music for Amplified Keyboard Instruments, Horna’s Sanojesi Äärelle, or Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians and go for a long bike ride across the Golden Gate bridge. From this vista, I am the horizon and I am reassured that my existence is nothing and that I will leave this place and the forces that have created existence in its entirety will continue without me.
SG: Where are you currently finding your inspiration?
BB: Ano Nuevo Island and the Elephant Seal. This area of California coast is one of human ruin and the triumph of nature. It has a history of countless shipwrecks and man-eating grizzlies. Every time I go there I am in awe and trembling with fear at the sight of the abandoned lighthouse with screaming elephant seals right in front of me.
SG: Where has your work been seen?
BB: McSweeney’s Believer Magazine, Adobe Books (SF), SFMOMA Artist’s Gallery (SF), ISE Cultutral Foundation Gallery (NYC), Civilian Art Projects (DC) and various walls around the Mission in San Francisco.
SG: Where will it be seen next?
BB: I am set to do a series of installations in the windows surrounding the SFMOMA in the Fall.
SG: What is your dream art assignment?
BB: A residency on Ano Nuevo Island or the Farallon Islands where I could bring a sensory deprivation tank along.
SG: What is your favorite color?
BB: Turquoise in all of its leanings toward blue.
SG: Who is your favorite artist? And Why?
BB: Mike Kelley. He works in so many mediums, but stays centered on his overall vision. Plus he was in Destroy All Monsters. That old three CD set is great… way ahead of its time. Raymond Pettibon and his drawings have had an influence on me. I also really like Cai Guo-Qiang. His grandness and ability to infuse mythology and cultural relevancy is amazing. I never tire of Emile Norman’s endo-mosaic at the Masonic Auditorium. The glowing luminescence of such a large piece of work with all of its secret symbolism is always inspiring.
SG: What book/magazine are you reading this week?
BB: The Manuscript Found in Saragossa by Jan Potocki and the latest issue of Cabinet.
SG: Ever do a self portrait? Where is it now?
BB: I have done several self-portraits. One in particular was of me lying down on top of an open adult diaper with peanut butter smeared all over my crotch. This was a 30-inch by 20-inch color photo. It caused me to be on the unfavorable side of my ex-girlfriends parents when they came to the opening when it was first shown. I displayed it again in the window of my room that faced 14th Street right at street level. My housemate demanded I put it away.
SG: Where is your favorite place to hang out?
BB: Aside from my studio, I like Sutro Heights and the San Francisco Center for Healing the Entitled
SG: Any final words of advice?
BB: Avoid the dark realm of the sycophants. This is a hideous and contagious place where many dwell and bask in their disease. There will be a day, most likely this year, where the flames of giving light will reach down and lick their existence clean. No crevice, no morsel and no person will be spared from this purifying and eternal fire.
1. Ocular Guardians of Verdancy
Collaboration with Cori Crowley
Mixed Media
Installation view and performance
Dimensions variable
ISE Cultural Foundation Gallery, NYC
2008
2. Mantic Gifts of Dismemberment and Renewal
Mixed Media
Instalation and performance view
Catharine Clark Gallery
2008
3. Mantic Gifts of Dismemberment and Renewal
Collaboration with Rueben Lorch-Miller
Screen-printed ink on paper
Edition of 25
20” x 26”
2008
4. The Giving Hands of Altered Destinies
Installation view
Screen-printed ink on paper, Gouache and thread on paper, Automotive paint on wood
Dimensions variable
2009
5. The Ascetic Flames of Efficacy
18” x 29”
Automotive paint on wood
2009
6. Offerings to the Infinite
20” x 16”
Gouache and thread on paper
2009
7. Harvest of the Infinite
16” x 20”
Gouache and thread on paper
2009
8. Guardian of Infinity #2
48” x 42”
Automotive paint on wood
2009
9. Surrender to the Infinite
Installation view #1
Dimension variable
Screen-printed ink on paper, Automotive paint on wood
2009
10. Martha Makes Quilts for Her Friends
Collaboration with Cori Crowley
26” x 12”
Screen-printed ink on paper (edition of 30)
2009
Topics: Artist Interviews, San Francisco Art Scene |
