FLAVIA BERTORELLO (b. Córdoba, Argentina) NYC-based artist, architectural designer and educator exploring the body-environment relations through a research-based practice that includes drawing, writing, and experimenting with materials in various formats, scales, and spatial contexts. Interested in site-responsive processes, Bertorello’s work exists in the intersection between printed media, artists’ books, wearable art, sculpture, video, and installation.
CURRENT STATEMENT /2024
My practice is woven with the spaces and places that surround me. I see the process of art making as a dynamic experience that involves exploring, observing, and conversing with the places I inhabit. A key element in my perspective is the idea that my body is similar to a sponge-mirror, absorbing- reflecting the world around it. Akin to the layers of the earth, these different aspects of my body are constantly exchanging with the environment and other people. I take in the energy and stories of my surroundings, and in return, I contribute my own thoughts, feelings, interpretations and actions as work to the ecosystem.
While engaging with my work I am sensitive to the hierarchical perspective that shapes reality. I ask myself how perception is shaped through context and relationship. The prevalence of valuing image over experience is a societal undercurrent that shapes our interactions with the world. This perspective extends not only to our interpersonal relationships but also to our interaction with nature. I strive to peel back these layers and dive into genuine contact and experience.
I collect images, textures, sounds and things from my surroundings to create compositions that I trace, record, make imprints, and photograph to use as personal references throughout the process. Back in the studio, I use a variety of digital and analog approaches, including drawing, body imprints, relief prints, monotypes and meta-assemblage to render the work in space.
A desire for the haptic propels me into drawing and making body imprints. "Body as Land," my recent publication, articulates a dialogue between the human form and the landscape. The narrative combines drawings, text, photography, and body imprints encapsulating the research and artistic output from my residency in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2021 interwoven with post-editorial collaborations alongside Guido Grosso of Studio 1993 in Argentina. The publication explores the editorial space as a conceptual framework stretching the boundaries of art, photography, and design while creating a new narrative as context for my work.
Currently, my research at Swale House, in partnership with the Urban Soils Institute on Governors Island, is oriented toward exploring the interplay between the natural and the fabricated. I'm particularly focused on the geologic and pedologic history of the island. Governors Island is a fascinating case study because the land itself has transformed significantly over time. The island, originally about 69 acres of glacial drift, was later expanded by over 100 acres in 1911 using landfill from the construction of the Lexington Avenue subway line. This created a “made land” rich with human artifacts, debris, and history.
Education
2018-2019- Transart Institute for Creative Research, University of Plymouth, UK. MFA.
2014-2018- The Art Students League of New York. Sculpture & Painting.
1997-2006- National University of Cordoba, Argentina. M.Arch & Urban Design.
Publications
2023- NYLAAT program overview, New York Latin American Triennale
2023- Body as Land- Artist Book-Self published
2022- Shape of Nature- Jewelry Book-China Humanities Publishing House
2020- Growth & Evolution-Jewelry Book- China Modern Publishing House
Art Residencies
2024- Swale House/ Urban Soil Institute. Governor’s Island, New York.
2023- New York Latin American Art Triennial. Governor’s Island, New York.
2021- Untethered Magic. Nairobi, Kenya.
2019- Field Kitchen Academy. Wüsten Buchholz, Germany.
2019- Transart, UferStudios. Berlin, Germany.
2019- Transart, Art in general. Brooklyn, New York.
2018- Transart, UferStudios. Berlin, Germany.
Group Exhibits
2024-“Ipaint flowers so they won’t die”/ wearable art/ group exhibit. Rome, Italy
2023-“Ooze”/ installation/ group exhibit. Governors Island, NYC
2023-“This jewelry is 100mrb”/wearable art/ group exhibit. Beijing, China.
2022- “I break”Venice experimental video and performing arts festival/Pallazo Bembo, Venice,Italy.
2021- “eternal flame” / video/ group exhibition / V Gallery, NYC
2020- “the heart cave” / sound piece/ online symposium/ transart reading room
2020- “Coil of life”/ wearable art/ group exhibit. Beijing design week. China.
2020- “This Happened”/ installation/ citadel + compagnie. Toronto, Canada.
2019- “Iron and Granite: IN Conversation”/ performance & installation/ Uferstudios, Berlin. Germany.
2019- “Particle lake”/ sculpture & sound installation- live stream/ New York-Cordoba, Argentina
2017- Elizabeth st. Garden Fundraising show/ poetry piece/ NY, NY
2017- “Red dot exhibition”- Sculpture- Phyllis Harriman Mason gallery, NY, NY
2016- “Red dot exhibition”- Sculpture- Phyllis Harriman Mason gallery, NY, NY
2015- “Red dot exhibition”- Sculpture- Phyllis Harriman Mason gallery, NY, NY
2010-“Nuage” - The Lab gallery/ installation / NY, NY
flabertorello@gmail.com
+1 646-852-7305