PUBLICATIONS

Monograph, year 2021

My world

Ten years, ten years of daily life are important: they tell of a growth that, after a certain age, no longer concerns the body but the intellectual dimension. At least I hope so…
Ten years, of an artist’s life, are just as important.
A dear friend of mine, Adelina Rodolico Gariglio, a while ago was telling me that every ten years an artist evolves and after the age of forty, he gives the best of himself.
In this volume are collected 74 works that talk about my painting from the end of 2009 to the present day. The monograph is also dedicated to all those friends who have followed my work during these years and have commented on my works; I feel I must express all my esteem and gratitude to them.
A special thanks goes to Dr. Cinzia Tesio. By analyzing my works and my painting she was able to understand my personality, my thoughts and my dreams.
There was a moment in 2009 when, after almost a decade of oil painting characterized by the use of the palette knife, I realized that I was not satisfied with the results; while on the one hand the spatula allows you to obtain bright colours, on the other it prevents you from representing details that, the brush instead allows you to obtain. Not that I’m a meticulous draftsman, quite the opposite: looking closely at my work you can see that I don’t particularly care for details. But I felt the need to go back to the brush and look for new solutions.
Finally, recently, I have discovered the pleasure of blending colours using solvent, so much so as to confuse the observer causing him to wonder if they are not watercolours.
The need to represent my world on an abstract level, dates back to when I was a child. It has always been an obsession; years and years of trials, which are not yet over. I don’t like to reproduce realistically what I see. A Venice of mine, compared with a photo of the place, could disappoint those who know it well. I often let myself be guided by the creative process: a window here or there, a chimney that is not present in reality, an extra pole. Symbols, iconic elements that create a short-circuit to the idea of the place. My painting is like this, improvisation and symbolism. Disrupting reality doesn’t matter to me as I try to achieve my goal.
The result is a somewhat abstract world made up of planes that cut space horizontally or vertically, of alternations between overlapping and dissecting the perspective, of spots and shades of colour.
This is my world.

Alex Bertaina