Today we are invited into the working space of NYC-based artist, Tatiana Berg. A French-American citizen, Tatiana's adolescence encompassed a nomadic existence, living in various countries around the world, before settling in New York - a unique background which almost certainly manifests itself in her work. As a painter, she doesn't confine herself to the traditional wall-mounted canvas; her works are often more like scultpures. Her painting acts as a performance, and the finished work, an installation.
POST NEW: Where is your studio based?
Tatiana Berg: On the Bushwick-Ridgewood border.
PN: What do you like about its location?
TB: Bushwick is a great place to work hard. The industrial landscape demands it of you. It still holds some semi-affordable big spaces, and on roofs and balconies you can look out across to the classic inspiring Manhattan skyline view.
Your studio space can be plain and functional and without windows so you can really concentrate, and then you step outside and are immediately surrounded by grubby beauty. I really love it.
PN: Are you influenced by any particular art movements?
TB: A lot of my painting heroes are from the 60-70s, like the French Supports/Surfaces group, or the post-Minimal Abstraction in NYC at the same time. I also have a huge soft spot for the Bay Area Figurative Movement guys, for taking the risk of departing from the current trend of macho, ab-ex painting and making such modest, intensively observed lovely little work. I really admire that.
Right now there’s something in the air with this “Provisional Painting” or “New Casualism” thing that’s going on. Rebecca Morris, Richard Aldrich, et all. It’s easy to be skeptical of anything resembling a new trend, but I’m really excited by a lot of that work. It contains a freshness I find impossible to fake.
PN: What's that you're working on?
TB: I’m working on a series loosely gathered under the title of “Abstract Summer.” I just got back from a trip to Arizona, so I’ve been thinking a lot about Arcosanti, desert landscapes, stuff like that. They’re very fast paintings, allowing lots of fun and improvisation and changes along the way. I’ll be traveling more soon, so I’m taking a break from building big things.
PN: Is painting better in 3D?
TB: Painting is always 3D. Even when it’s a traditional rectangular canvas on the wall, painting is still an object that exists in space, even if it only sticks out two inches.
PN: Do you have any exhibitions lined up?
TB: I think so, but I don’t have any of the dates yet!
PN: Best thing about New York?
TB: Leaving it and coming back to it.
Jack Smylie
Photographer - Clément Pascal
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