“If there’s one word to describe my work I’d say ‘honest’ or ‘theraputic.’ Haha, that’s two words!” That’s okay, Mike—they work together, so we’ll count them as one.
The reason those two words go hand in hand in this case? Bertino’s art is largely focused on the contrast between inner and outer experience, and he often holds his own life’s upheavals to the light as his subject. He says that wounds are a recurring theme in his work, but so is first aid. His creations are often composed of opposites in image, line, and color, as well as in poetic statements found in some pieces. These elements debate with each other the same way we debate with ourselves as we try to solve life’s larger dilemmas.
His own self portrait, called “Myself,”originally created for a flyer announcing a group art display called “The Jerk Show,” shows this universal inner conflict. His face, clearly distressed, and shock of black hair is contrasted against a background of yellow flame. In the center of his forehead is red heart with an eye in the center; out of the pupil of the eye shoots a bright yellow flare, like the tail of a rocket. Small horns have sprouted on his head, and there’s a bandaid on his cheek. He says this piece is about seeing with the heart (inner experience), but still hurting those we care about even though we don’t mean to (outer manifestation). As the images debate with each other, so does the color. Red, yellow, and black constantly vie for the dominant role—none seem to win, so the dispute between attributes continues.
Through his work Bertino may seem like a tortured soul, but actually he’s a pleasant, firmly directed man with clear goals and well-considered priorities. Although he can’t remember what originally got him interested in becoming an artist, his earlies memories are of copying newspaper comics and going to the J. Paul Getty Museum with his family. “Eventually I started reading superhero junk comics, but that all died out after I hit puberty. I never lost interest in comics, but something about X-Men didn’t quite line up with my fantasies anymore…. Music really started to influence me artistically around this time. Not just the music even, but the sub-cultures.”
Eventually Dave Nuss, a friend of Bertino’s, introduced him to underground comics. “It’s interesting to me, because I think that Dave had more of an influence on me artistically than any one thing. He sort of forced me to be smarter and to push myself more.” Bertino continued to train himself in art, eventually self-publishing a minicomic for about nine years.
Bertino credits the underground comic movement with contributing the most to his style, citing forthunder.org, Chester Brown, and Julie Doucet as his main influences. Although his first mentor was Jordan Crane, he claims to have a lot of heroes in the art world. “But most of them don’t do art. A lot of what inspires me are people who I feel have lived these amazing lives, and find ways to share them with the world. Some are fictional and some are real.”
Although he wants to continue producing indie comics, he’s busy studying illustration at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Well aware that comics won’t pay the rent, he’s learning how to make a living from his talent in another way. He says the study of illustration will also influence his style, and may mean a shift in his future approach to composition and design. When he graduates, he plans to work as a freelance illustrator to keep his stomach from growling, but he will continue his comics and gallery art in his off time to keep his soul from attacking him in the middle of the night.
Although up-and-coming artists’ first priority should be making sure their residences don’t say “corrogated cardboard” on the side, Bertino cautions them to “Make art that’s fun to you, inspiring to you. Trust your own instincts and interests and don’t worry so much about what you should be doing with your art. Jump in with both feet into the kind of world you want to create for yourself.” Honest. Therapeutic.
Fortunately for us, Bertino takes his own advice—you can’t get much more honest and therapeutic than that. 
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October 16th, 2006 at 2:16 pm
Great article… Want to see more from this artist!
May 13th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
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