Andre Bertolino
Resume
Group Shows:
2001 The Agora Gallery, 360 Broadway, N.Y.C.
2006 Bad as Art Gallery, 316 Delaware Ave, Albany N.Y.
2009 North Bank Gallery, Vancouver W.A.
2012 Granite state artists gallery, Concord N.H.
2013 Studio 550 Art center, Manchester N.H.
2014 Piano Factory gallery, Boston M.A.
2015 Modern Gypsy, Manchester N.H.
2009 North Bank Gallery, Vancouver W.A.
2012 Granite state artists gallery, Concord N.H.
2013 Studio 550 Art center, Manchester N.H.
2014 Piano Factory gallery, Boston M.A.
2015 Modern Gypsy, Manchester N.H.
2015 Toad Hall, Franklin N.H.
2017 Art Jam Bridge Fest, Manchester N.H.
2018 "Out of Context," Sulphur Studios, Bull st. Savannah G.A.
2019 "Selfiedestruction," Loop it up Savannah G.A.
2019 Cedar House Gallery, Savannah G.A.
2017 Art Jam Bridge Fest, Manchester N.H.
2018 "Out of Context," Sulphur Studios, Bull st. Savannah G.A.
2019 "Selfiedestruction," Loop it up Savannah G.A.
2019 Cedar House Gallery, Savannah G.A.
2021 The Location Gallery, Savannah G.A.
2022 Armstrong State University, Savannah G.A.
Solo shows:
2001 Paramount theatre, Middletown N.Y.
2007 Bad as Art gallery, Albany N.Y.
2008 IPRC gallery, Portland O.R.
2013 Wonder Made, Concord N.H.
2015 Red river theatres, Concord N.H.
2007 Bad as Art gallery, Albany N.Y.
2008 IPRC gallery, Portland O.R.
2013 Wonder Made, Concord N.H.
2015 Red river theatres, Concord N.H.
2015 NHTI, Concord N.H.
2016 The Place studio and gallery, Concord N.H.
2017 HatBox Theatre, Concord N.H.
2018 Manchester Maker Space, Manchester N.H.
2019 Sentient Bean, Savannah G.A.
2019 Foxy Loxy, Savannah G.A.
2017 HatBox Theatre, Concord N.H.
2018 Manchester Maker Space, Manchester N.H.
2019 Sentient Bean, Savannah G.A.
2019 Foxy Loxy, Savannah G.A.
2020 Cedar House Gallery, Savannah G.A.
2021 Cedar House Gallery, Savannah G.A.
Self Taught.
Biography:
At 5:23 AM on
October the 18th 1980 C.E. 45◦ x 43◦ longitude, Andre Bertolino was born foot
first, because he’s not a head first kind of guy. He was blue when he entered
this world, and then he died. Dr. Thothmos called it “S.I.D.S.” and brought him
back to life, because it would make Oneida hospital look bad if people died
there for no apparent reason, other than a meaningless acronym. Also it was a
matter of national security. American children are an asset, who else is going
to fight our wars for us? Many ancient cultures would have just let Andre die, saying
“this kid is obviously never going to fight our wars for us, he dies way too
easy!”
Andre has always
loved food. His first word was, “cookie.” Not “mom” or “dad” or “baba.” His
second word was, “Ma”, short for the Hebrew word for soup, Marrer. Andre reads
ancient Hebrew at a second grade level. In most other areas he was a perfectly
normal Earth born human child. Now he is 43 years old and six feet tall. He has
done a few art shows and some people have said they liked them, which was very
nice of them but it didn’t pay the bills. So he has worked as a Chef for 20 years.
He has won many awards, including the prestigious “employee of the month award.” He is composed of enough water to fill a ten gallon barrel, sufficient fat for seven cakes of soap, enough carbon for nine thousand pencils, enough phosphorus to make twenty thousand match heads, plenty of magnesium for one dose of salts, enough iron to make one medium sized nail. Ample lime to whitewash a chicken coop and an adequate amount of Sulfur to rid one dog of fleas. He lives & “works” in Galveston T.X.
He has won many awards, including the prestigious “employee of the month award.” He is composed of enough water to fill a ten gallon barrel, sufficient fat for seven cakes of soap, enough carbon for nine thousand pencils, enough phosphorus to make twenty thousand match heads, plenty of magnesium for one dose of salts, enough iron to make one medium sized nail. Ample lime to whitewash a chicken coop and an adequate amount of Sulfur to rid one dog of fleas. He lives & “works” in Galveston T.X.
Statement:
“The theory of imposed systems.”
It is an ambitious concept that attempts to cover all things human and to explain why we are the way the way we are. But it has a special application to contemporary American art. Simply put, the theory runs like this: the nature of the physical world is entropic- in other words, it tends inexorably to disorder, at least on the level of experience that humans operate on. In order to understand and manipulate nature, they have imposed artificial disciplines of one sort or another on her. Cause and effect reasoning such as physics, quantitative systems such as mathematics, communication systems such as language, and others. Along with such systems evolve sets of rules, and by applying these rules they try to thwart the inevitability of decay by attempting to predict and avoid it. So the biological urge to survive is ultimately at the root of all enterprise. There is no such thing as knowledge for knowledge’s sake. Furthermore, in order to communicate what they call “knowledge,” humans have also imposed categorical, identities, and names upon various entities of which their world is constituted. But the trouble with taxonomy is that the very name carries with it an ascription of value and connotation of good or evil-no matter how subtle this may be. Even their systems of oral communication are inherently flawed. So because they know the world to be disorderly they impose intellectual systems on it in order to control their own destinies. This is where politics and economics come in. It is also where the role of the artist in society is defined. Politics is a convenient abstraction, designed for the purpose of overseeing the welfare of the race- or of a privileged few, depending on your perspective. Communist and Capitalist ideologies are just two ways to create the right environment for the successful procreation of the species. The only criterion in the long term is whether or not the system does what it was intended to do. But the problem with all systems is that, due to the entopic nature of the world, they eventually decay. Think of them like a spinning spiral that eventually spins into itself and vanishes in a vortex of its own making. The process can never be halted, only adjusted and to some degree maintained until it becomes obvious that the system is no longer viable as a means of protecting the intended beneficiary. Therefore politicians and philosophers spend an inordinate amount of their time on earth tinkering with systems; trying to maintain or alter them in accordance with what they perceive as being necessary for the preservation of the race physically and ethically.
The artist is the only intellect that does not need to name a thing or assign it a value in order to describe it. The artist is therefore in a unique position to inform us about the nature of the systems in which we live. The artist is the outsider with the clear vision. And that makes him essential to society for this reason: a system that is not working cannot be repaired or altered from within. This is a maxim; it is the maxim responsible for revolutions, be they violent or peaceful, physical or intellectual. It is the nature of an imposed system that people working within it can only perpetuate it or perish with it. But when a system has reached a critical point of decay, it must be replaced. When a political system reaches this critical point, it festers into decadence and then anarchy, both of which herald the death of a system, and, by implication the death of those who depend on it. But to see a system clearly enough to see what is wrong with it, one must step outside. Think of it this way: if a race were to have the misfortune to be caught in the eye of the hurricane, they could not see its shape or avoid its consequences but they could send up weather balloons to see the shape of the system forming and warn of its approach. And so and artist like me, can function as a kind of sensitive barometer of the climate and health of a social, political, or cultural system. My work would do this anyway as long as I refrain from deliberately appropriating from the system for to do so would in fact contribute to the system. Reinforcing it, participating in its perpetuation. I am by nature and necessity apolitical, while my work cannot help but be viewed in a political context. My clear vision, and the fact that I don’t need to name or value things in accordance with the system’s nomenclature or established values, makes it inevitable that this is so.
I have renounced the gallery scene for aesthetic reasons, not consciously political ones and that ultimately determines what constitutes great art. The magic inherent in the craft must always come first. The individual vision of the artist, or else he is just another cog in the vast machinery of the system, hastening its demise. Many artists, of course, would argue that they need to “engage” the system to make a living in it. The fact is that art is not about making money. And great artists are rarely fortunate enough to reap the benefits of their honest labor. That is simply the nature of the beast.
Contact the artist at Mercredi.Trebizond@gmail.com.
It is an ambitious concept that attempts to cover all things human and to explain why we are the way the way we are. But it has a special application to contemporary American art. Simply put, the theory runs like this: the nature of the physical world is entropic- in other words, it tends inexorably to disorder, at least on the level of experience that humans operate on. In order to understand and manipulate nature, they have imposed artificial disciplines of one sort or another on her. Cause and effect reasoning such as physics, quantitative systems such as mathematics, communication systems such as language, and others. Along with such systems evolve sets of rules, and by applying these rules they try to thwart the inevitability of decay by attempting to predict and avoid it. So the biological urge to survive is ultimately at the root of all enterprise. There is no such thing as knowledge for knowledge’s sake. Furthermore, in order to communicate what they call “knowledge,” humans have also imposed categorical, identities, and names upon various entities of which their world is constituted. But the trouble with taxonomy is that the very name carries with it an ascription of value and connotation of good or evil-no matter how subtle this may be. Even their systems of oral communication are inherently flawed. So because they know the world to be disorderly they impose intellectual systems on it in order to control their own destinies. This is where politics and economics come in. It is also where the role of the artist in society is defined. Politics is a convenient abstraction, designed for the purpose of overseeing the welfare of the race- or of a privileged few, depending on your perspective. Communist and Capitalist ideologies are just two ways to create the right environment for the successful procreation of the species. The only criterion in the long term is whether or not the system does what it was intended to do. But the problem with all systems is that, due to the entopic nature of the world, they eventually decay. Think of them like a spinning spiral that eventually spins into itself and vanishes in a vortex of its own making. The process can never be halted, only adjusted and to some degree maintained until it becomes obvious that the system is no longer viable as a means of protecting the intended beneficiary. Therefore politicians and philosophers spend an inordinate amount of their time on earth tinkering with systems; trying to maintain or alter them in accordance with what they perceive as being necessary for the preservation of the race physically and ethically.
The artist is the only intellect that does not need to name a thing or assign it a value in order to describe it. The artist is therefore in a unique position to inform us about the nature of the systems in which we live. The artist is the outsider with the clear vision. And that makes him essential to society for this reason: a system that is not working cannot be repaired or altered from within. This is a maxim; it is the maxim responsible for revolutions, be they violent or peaceful, physical or intellectual. It is the nature of an imposed system that people working within it can only perpetuate it or perish with it. But when a system has reached a critical point of decay, it must be replaced. When a political system reaches this critical point, it festers into decadence and then anarchy, both of which herald the death of a system, and, by implication the death of those who depend on it. But to see a system clearly enough to see what is wrong with it, one must step outside. Think of it this way: if a race were to have the misfortune to be caught in the eye of the hurricane, they could not see its shape or avoid its consequences but they could send up weather balloons to see the shape of the system forming and warn of its approach. And so and artist like me, can function as a kind of sensitive barometer of the climate and health of a social, political, or cultural system. My work would do this anyway as long as I refrain from deliberately appropriating from the system for to do so would in fact contribute to the system. Reinforcing it, participating in its perpetuation. I am by nature and necessity apolitical, while my work cannot help but be viewed in a political context. My clear vision, and the fact that I don’t need to name or value things in accordance with the system’s nomenclature or established values, makes it inevitable that this is so.
I have renounced the gallery scene for aesthetic reasons, not consciously political ones and that ultimately determines what constitutes great art. The magic inherent in the craft must always come first. The individual vision of the artist, or else he is just another cog in the vast machinery of the system, hastening its demise. Many artists, of course, would argue that they need to “engage” the system to make a living in it. The fact is that art is not about making money. And great artists are rarely fortunate enough to reap the benefits of their honest labor. That is simply the nature of the beast.
Contact the artist at Mercredi.Trebizond@gmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment