These paintings by the German-born, Minneapolis-based Ute Bertog are bold, modern and in-your-face. There’s a rawness and rebellious energy we associate with street and underground art which I assume are key influences. Letters and words are fragmented, juxtaposed and layered conveying messages about youth, urban culture and social constructs. The artist is in a group show at grayduck Gallery that opens Jan. 14th.
I am a painter intrigued by abstraction and its reluctant relationship to language. I paint text – not to make transparent works, rather to create opportunities for meaning to slip into other guises…
…Covering, rewriting, tracing, scraping, cutting are all procedures that slowly transform a given text extracted from popular media until the ability to read is either severely undermined or completely taken away. This is where imagination and play come in and readily fill in any gaps, offering the chance to undermine and confuse original content.
…
.
