Artist
Bernardo Ortiz (Bogotá, 1972) is an artist and writer. He studied at Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá (BFA) and Universidad del Valle, Cali (MA Philosophy). He was editorial curator for the 7a Bienal do Mercosul that took place in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 2009, teaches at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, and is a permanent member of the advisory board at Lugar A Dudas in Cali, Colombia. Some of projects include Valdez Magazine (co-editor, featured in Documenta 11, Kassel 2007) and “41 Salón Nacional de Artistas” in Cali (co-curator). Ortiz examines the complex relationships between image and text through works that combine drawing, writing, installation and philosophy. Often using hard pencils that leave a delicate trace of lines or paper-thin layers of oil paint and enamel, Ortiz creates minimalistic drawings on canvases made from a variety of materials, including silk, paper and linen. His meticulous, methodical and subtle mark making encourages a close examination of the two-dimensional surface, placing emphasis on the distance, or ‘fissure’, between the canvas and its content. His work is in the permanent collections of Centre National de Artes Plastiques in Paris, Deustsche Bank in Berlin, Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros in New York, Kadist Collection in San Francisco and Paris, Colección Maraloto in Bogotá, Museo de Arte Moderno La Tertulia in Cali, and MoMA in New York.
Artist Bernardo Ortiz discusses questions of overarching art historical narratives and local practices and histories of the Colombia art scene, highlighting the responsibility an artist has in dealing with such constructions as they make work.
