BIOGRAPHY

A dream within the deep of my soul.

A dream within the deep of my soul. I was born in Turin (Italy) in 1963 and I have lived the early first years of my life in the outskirts of the Piedmontese city, exactly in Grugliasco. Since I was a child, who I have had the desire to express myself in a creative way, I have always been passionate about colours and drawing ,that are for me the primary tools, is to be able to communicate with the world.

When I was 11 I moved to Cuneo in the country, where I currently live and work. From then on, here in the green Piedmontese countryside, my immagination has fed itself of exuberant visions, that start from the “Langhe” and go West to the Alps. A memory often arises in me when I come back home, a recurrent image: I picture a pristine landscape wrapped in a wide-spread warm light. I believe that this image represents a desire of an untouched and unspoiled nature that has been within me since my childhood, when I tried to create a clean and tidy world from the jumble of scribbles made by my classmates.

Our lives are characterized by the tension and stress of modern living where nothing ever stands still and where we are constantly overwhelmed by the frenzy of passing time. I do not surrender to it and through my works I seek for purity in a world contaminated by human action on the environment, where the pursuit of profit has caused serious injuries to the territory.

Up to 1987, I never seriously thought to start painting, then because of an injury that relegated me at home for three months I discovered a new world, in the depths of my soul there was a dream, I wanted to be a great art painter.

In 1988 I met the most important person in my life, my wife Adriana who has helped me make my dream come true, supporting and advising me from the beginning, all the way long up to today. My talent had no need of Art Schools, I only needed the right mentor, and I found him in the late Marco Lattes, who in 1988, helped me to expand my technical knowledge and to fill in my watercolour technique gaps.

In those years I started attending several events and painting competitions, where I met many artists from whom I could elicit secrets and teachings.

In the early 90’s I almost had a sort of pictorial partnership with my friend Pierpaolo Giraudo with whom I shared a trip to the Aosta Valley in search of picturesque views.

Then I received the first flattering awards that gave me a great incentive, since 1995 I have decided to widen my horizon taking part in different National competitions where I met several critics.

In 1997 I met dear Professor Umberto Zaccaria, who invited me to exhibit at Villa Fabriani di Spilamberto (Mo) and that in 2001 presented my first monograph during my personal exhibition at the Palazzo della Provincia in Cuneo.

The same year I met Jean Louis Droit, a French art dealer, whom opened for me the European scene. This meeting has revolutionized my concept of painting and use of colors: from then on I started really enjoying myself with all the shades of the palette. Even without leaving the brushes I discovered the spatula painting and the potential and the brilliance of the material color. Since then it has been a succession of performances in France!

The social network Facebook was another basic tool for my work, because it gave me a world level reputation and thanks to this in 2013, I met the art dealer Andrew Hillier and landed in the UK where I exhibited in the Hillier Gallery in Stratford-upon- Avon.

In 2014 the English art dealer Lawson Bell invited me to exhibit in his galleries in the UK: The Bell Fine Art in Winchester and The Store Street Gallery in London.

The same year a new artistic page was opened, the Art Revolution Taipei Fair invited me to participate as “Master of the Year” in Taipei. From then on my works are present in Taipei every year.

In January 2015 to my surprise my work on the Venice painting was awarded by the French magazine Pratiques des Arts with the cover of the magazine and with an article on my work “Fantaisie vénitienne à l’huile” written by Anne Daubrèe.

In August 2016 the Ukrainian composer Nik Savinich dedicated a record of piano music session to my works, the title is “Bertaina”.

At the moment, invited by Sara Bobin I’m working on a great personal exhibition to be held in 2020 in her gallery Vent des Cimes in Grenoble, for the occasion my new monography will be presented.

The child who tried to create a clean and tidy world from the jumble of scribbles made by his classmates has ended up increasing his passion as a painter.

Today, thanks to a constant and continuous commitment, I am known at world level for my Mediterranean landscapes, my Venetian paintings and for my snowy mountain views.

Maybe my dream within the deep of my soul is coming true.

Alex Bertaina