There is a lot of superb contemporary realism being made these days; this article by Allison Malafronte shines light on a gifted individual.
“Convinced that beauty stubbornly persists, I salvage it wherever I find it — and follow it through.” This declaration by Nathan Bertling (b. 1974) aptly summarizes his motivation for being a painter. Fascinated by the often-overlooked nuances of people, places, and things, he combines a commitment to traditional methods and materials with an active imagination and acute observation to make statements about everyday life.
Bertling studied visual arts and communications at Furman University in South
Carolina, followed by six years of intensive training at Ben Long’s atelier in Asheville, North Carolina. In Florence during the 1970s, Long had apprenticed with Pietro Annigoni (1910–1988), sometimes called the Patriarch of Realism and one of the last living links to the Italian Renaissance. Since completing his formal training, Bertling has deployed both this Old Master lineage and various contemporary innovations to shape his own style and approach.
Today, the subjects of this Greenville, South Carolina-based artist’s paintings and drawings include people intriguing to him, sentimental objects, and scenes that conjure memories or forgotten moments. The Librarian (shown at top), a portrait of Bertling’s wife seated in front of a shelf of colorful books, is an apropos way to portray a bibliophile, aspiring author, and illustrator.
Present Imperfect, illustrated above, tells a story of the passage of time and daily practice. “The watch was a gift from my wife and is a meditation on the necessity of perseverance,” the artist explains. “The worn wristband and paint-stained wood signify the lessons that can only be learned through patient plodding. In juxtaposing the nostalgia of a timepiece with an artist’s easel, I was able to reflect the weathered beauty and scarred effects of real labor.”
As for his career path and future plans, Bertling states, “I’m looking and laboring down the long road — to see my life and art deepen together.” He is now a member of New York City’s Salmagundi Club, where his self-portrait Quick to Listen was awarded Best in Show at the 2022 Open Painting, Sculpture & Graphics exhibition.
Coming in Fall 2024, Bertling will have an exhibition tentatively titled “All of the Above” at Dacia Gallery in the East Village, NYC, New York. Visit DaciaGallery.com for updates on the exhibition details.
“My painting ‘Both/And’ (above) is an homage to two living American masters under whom I have been privileged to study: Benjamin F. Long, IV and Bo Bartlett,” said Bertling. “Each of these artists has painted floating figures, coupling commanding portrayals of the human figure with conceptual inventiveness. Alongside the contributions from these two prolific painters, the list of my influences runs deep: from Titian and Velazquez to Degas and Fantin-Latour; from Sargent and Sorolla to Hopper and Annigoni. Last but certainly not least, my wife Hallie’s work as a writer and illustrator gave me the initial impulse that inspired this piece. Her love for the fantastic and whimsical is reflected in the children’s books and classic literature that lift her heart and fire her imagination. This double-portrait of the two of us plays between a number of tensions, felt all at once: time & space, matter & spirit, obscurity & illumination, history & memory & revelation – movements powerfully induced by word and image.”
Connect with Bertling at NathanBertling.com and on Instagram @nathanbertlingstudio.
View more artist and collector profiles here at FineArtConnoisseur.com.
