everyone’s house
In a conversation with DIARIO LAS AMRICAS, at the Consulate General of Colombia in Miami, the artist showed the works from his recent exhibition there, titled “Earth Day.”
The exhibition, inaugurated on April 22, did not only feature paintings. Bernal designed some bags made by hand with recycled fabric provided by the Social Works Association for the Benefit of the National Police of Colombia.
It was an initiative of the Consul General of Colombia in Miami, Edgar Adolfo Monroy Amado, and the consular official of Culture, Mnica Trujillo.
In addition, the exhibition had the collaboration of Briggith Ripamonti, Director of SOSWATER; Mara Camila Castellanos, Director of ProColombia in the US; and the Social Services of the National Police of Colombia, led by General William Salamanca, Director General of the National Police of Colombia and his wife Yadira Portuondo of Salamanca.
In this exhibition the theme is the planet Earth, which naturally enjoys color and design. The intention is to pay tribute to him, said Edgar Bernal. And he added: My mission is to highlight that beauty of color that many times people do not see. It’s telling people, look, let’s respect our big house, the place where we were born. Nature is the compendium of peace, knowledge, and communication.
He consul Edgar Adolfo Monroy Amado told DIARIO LAS AMRICAS that the Consulate is not only dedicated to procedures and attending to the relationship of citizens with Colombian institutions, but that with a city like this, with a dynamism like the one it has, the function has to go a little more there. We try to help these people who produce what will remain at the end of time, which is art, so that it is spread among the greatest number of people, and even more so with messages as important as this one.
Regarding the message of Bernal’s exhibition, he pointed out that we should not neglect ourselves because the planet is everyone’s home, and if we do not take care of it there will be no home for anyone. So the message is clear, forceful, it concerns us all.
And he added: Just as he has had the opportunity, we try to spread it to as many people as possible, not only in painting, but in writing, in cinema. The next exhibition will be photography.
In response to the consulate’s welcome, Bernal noted: I am new to Miami, and Miami is already part of my heart. I was grateful to have the opportunity that they have opened a space for me, it is an honor, it is a welcome.
I come from the mountain
Regarding the land where he lived 40 years ago, Engativ, explained that it is a small town near Bogotá. He remembers it clearly: Bogotá was surrounded by small towns when I was a child. In Engativ I spent part of my childhood in a house that my parents inherited. That life was fascinating. It is a country life full of peace, love, nature. My mother loved nature, animals, plants. I feel like a peasant although I was born in Bogotá. For me it is a pride.
As he related: I always lived surrounded by dogs, geese, cats, cows, horses, and I did not see them as animals, but as part of the family. A very special anecdote is that at lunch time mom would put out a giant bowl of soup for the dogs, but the cats and geese would also come. It was very common to see those scenes that many times one did not give importance to. The teaching was natural, no matter what we lived.
In my family they were art lovers, we were always in a social circle where bohemia attended, they took us to galleries, to theaters, my dad liked to play the guitar, he liked poetry. My mother was an artisan because she knitted. So we always live surrounded by the concept that art is the substance of life, he declared.
His appetite for images comes, in part, thanks to his father: My dad did me the favor of giving me a camera when I was about 9 years old. He had a Hasselblad camera and I would take it out to take photos and play with it, so he gave me one. He did me the great favor of becoming a photographer.
Bernal studied Fine Arts in Colombia. He has a Bachelor’s degree in advertising from the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University, Bogotá, Colombia, and a Bachelor’s degree in Media Communications from Hunter College, New York, NY. He also studied at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain and at the International Center of Photography in NY.
Colors in freedom
The work of Edgard Bernal It extends between the figurative and the dreamy, playing with expressionism, surrealism and abstraction. It is an impressionist painting with an abstract surrealist intention, the artist stressed.
Since I do photography and I really like design, you can notice that most of my paintings have a lot of color and a lot of design. It is an internal fight, because when I try to create a painting I always have to give preference to something, but in the end I let the emotions come to the fore, he highlighted.
Many of his paintings and photographs prevail in private collections in Colombia, Spain, Italy and England; In the United States in the last two decades she has exhibited her work in art rooms at various universities and in the gallery rooms of the consulates of Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia.
He has held solo exhibitions at the United Nations Secretariat Building in New York in honor of Colombia’s Independence Day; Berkeley College in NY in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month; the Antoine Dutot Museum in the Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania; Pocono Art Council, Stroudsburg Pennsylvania; Workshop 5 Bogot, Colombia.
Additionally, he has participated in group exhibitions at the 25th and 26th International Art Expo at the Javits Convention Center in NY; New Horizon Club Center in South Hampton NY; St. Johns University Art Gallery; the NY Public Library, among others.
In the last decade Bernal has continued working as a graphic and interior textile designer and founded the design firm Bernal Visual Art. He later partnered with other designers to create another design firm: Linea Designers, Inc.
You can find it at Instagramon its pages bernalvisualart.com and lineadesigners.com or by email (email protected)
