Found Art

What’s your background – you live in Barcelona, but you teach at the Art Institute of Chicago, so you must reside in the states part of the year. Are you originally from the Midwest? How did you come to be living in Spain?
I’m an educator by trade.  I studied history and education in undergraduate school and did my masters in educational psychology.   While living in Chicago, I had the opportunity to join my interests in education and art in a variety of capacities in the education division of the museum.  I moved to Barcelona to take a history teaching position at Benjamin Franklin International School and reside there year round. 

I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, studied in Goshen, Indiana, taught in Seattle for two years before moving to Mexico City, where I lived, taught and painted for four happy years.  I then moved to Chicago for three years before relocating to Barcelona.

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Sandpaper, tar, burlap, wax, cloth, acrylic and oil are just some of the materials you have used in past work. More recently you’ve been utilizing digital photography as an art medium, what inspired you to take off in this direction? What are you working on now?
I’m back to working with tangible media, though my interest in photography surfaces from time to time.  Some of the digital photographs I created were the result of an effort to capture and manipulate images of paintings that were works in process and not finished pieces in themselves.  It reminds me of what Mark Horiuchi commented in a previous issue of artandletter that “the artistic part is deciding when to stop.”  A finished painting is only one of a number of possible stopping points.  Digital photographs allowed me to preserve and explore these other points in the life of a painting.  Other digital pieces were created by shooting photocopies of photographs that I had treated with wax and that were lit from behind.  The transparency and luminosity of wax has always fascinated me and digital stills were a way of capturing those effects without getting into the business of making lamps.

I enjoy exploring how various media interact.  The results of manipulating the textures of a wide-range of surfaces (such as burlap, screens, cardboard) with art media (such as oils and wax) are interesting to me.  My present work is again exploring materials and textures.  Thanks to Barcelona’s robust culture of informal recycling—each neighborhood puts out its “junk” on a designated night of the week—I find myself with an endless supply of wood, drawers, and laminate, which form the foundation of my paintings.

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Often times you hear artists discussing their work, talking about the back story – what the meaning of a piece is, messages they wanted to convey. Other artists begin and forge ahead without having any one clear idea – or if they do, it changes along the way, morphing into something totally different, letting the artistic process take them where it will. How do you begin working, where is your inspiration coming from?
I am firmly in the latter camp.   My work is rarely driven by a clear idea of what I want to create.  Rather, it is an exploration (read: a messy meandering search) for effects that arise from the application and interaction of various media, trying to provoke those “happy accidents.”  Accidents, of course, are accidental and willing them to happen is a bit of paradox.  I find that two ideas help me overcome that paradox and move my work along: play and careful observation.  I feel that my best work has resulted from allowing myself to play, free of self-consciousness, internal censorship, preconceived notions about aesthetics, and that most damning enemy, fear.  When I’m at my best I keep asking and attempting to answer a long line of questions that begin, “What happens if….”  The second part, of course, is keeping my eyes wide open during the process.

How has your style changed over the years – when did you begin life as a professional artist?
I started pursuing painting seriously about eight years ago while living in Mexico.  Since then, I suppose I would describe the developmental trajectory of my work as circuitous.  I find myself exploring a certain media or theme for a period of time, leaving it for a spell and then returning to it.  Similarly, I enjoy exploring how familiar media and themes can be expressed newly on the spectrum from representational to abstract.

You're an instructor at the Art Institute of Chicago – what is your view on art schools – how important is higher art education for the aspiring artist and what benefits besides technique are gained from attending classes?
I can’t speak from experience on the merits and limitations of formal art education.  As I stated earlier, my role at the Art Institute of Chicago was as a museum educator and I am not formally trained as a painter. However, based on my personal experience as a self-taught painter and on my professional experience as a teacher in formal education, I will hazard two observations.  First, I believe that all learning depends on the individual’s drive to learn.  Peers, teachers and educational facilities can aid greatly in that process, though these elements neither insure learning will happen nor are they the exclusive means to arriving at learning.  Secondly, educational institutions can (and often do) exercise a conservative influence on students by shaping what they focus their energies on and by the methods they espouse.   It comes back to the idea of play.  Secondary schools, for instance, often discourage playfulness in the learning process.  I imagine that art educational institutions must grapple with ways to pass through the sticky wicket of being serious about play.

For most artists, making a living from their work is probably one of the hardest obstacles to overcome, but aside from that, what do you find to be the most difficult part of being an artist? What’s the best part?
The most difficult part of painting for me is continually cultivating and maintaining the playfulness that I’ve spoke of.  The artists (visual and otherwise) that I most appreciate are ones that have developed a unique style while continue to evolve in genuinely new ways.  I often fight the tendency to do what I already know works.  In the end, I suppose my greatest challenge in painting (as in other areas of life) is to overcome self-imposed limitations.  The best part is when I’m able to do that.

What do you love about living in Barcelona – where do you like to hang out?
There are the obvious things:  the beautiful architecture, the Mediterranean, the language, the affordable wine.  I’ve lived various places abroad and I have always enjoyed the experience of being out of my element, forced to see new things and to see things newly and to gain insights on different ways of living.  I appreciate the international character of this city with folks from everywhere in Europe and the world.  For example, the studio where I paint (which is where I like to hang out) is made up of an Italian, an Argentine, a Brazilian and myself. 

You are part of a collective called Laboratorio Visual Investigativo – I visited the web site but unfortunately I don’t speak Spanish – what’s it all about?
Laboratorio Investigativo Visual (www.artliv.org) is an art association that networks and promotes its members, whom are both Spanish and international artists.  It organizes exhibits, works with galleries and oversees a collective studio space.  Check us out on the web and if your in town, by all means, stop by the studio in Poble Sec, Carrer  de Tapioles, 30.

Your artist’s statement is ‘Writing about painting is like talking about dancing" – so I’m trying to keep this interview short! But one last question, if you could have your artwork hanging any place in the world, where would it be?
My artist statement is a rather poor variation of a Frank Zappa quote that “writing about music is like dancing about architecture.”   As for where to hang my art, I think Banksy has the right idea:  anywhere it will catch your eye

Bradely Bergey is an accomplished artist living in Barcelona Spain. To learn more about Bradley's artwork and his other art affiliations, please visit www.crywonder.com

email: bradley.bergey@gmail.com

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