Featured Artist Bernardo Corman

Artist Bernardo Corman presents a collection of fantastical mixed media sculpture and collage. Visit his website to learn more.

 

 

I’m Bernardo and I’ve been making art for over 45 years. The primary focus of most of my career has been sculpture and drawing. However, in the past six years I’ve been making handcut collages. I enjoy the precision required to isolate the images I’m interested in and also the element of chance involved in assembling them. I’m constantly amazed and inspired by the work of other collage artists.

 

 

Early in my career I was strongly influenced by a book of photographs that chronicled concept car design from the Big Three in Detroit from the 1950’s and 60’s. Those cars represented a chrome-plated version of the future that I found fascinating. I felt like they were rolling sculptures themselves and that producing pieces that touched on that feeling of “Retro-Futurism” would make for an interesting line of work. Not long after, I began incorporating my deep interest in Surrealism to the automotive forms I was exploring.

 

 

My work in the eighties and nineties was primarily in bronze. I had several apprenticeships in the Chicago area where I learned the basics of my craft. Starting in 1991, I was a staff member at the New Jersey fine art foundry The Johnson Atelier. There I honed my understanding of the lost wax process and  expanded my abilities.

 

 

I also produced lots of work due to their generous program of allowing employees to make use of the facilities. During this time period I made what I consider to be some of my most signature pieces. CaddyCorner, Iron Horse and Escargo! were all very popular.

 

 

After the Atelier, I spent years working for other local area New Jersey artists as a moldmaker and a shop rat. I learned how to produce work in cast resin. I started to make my own work in this material and continued to explore my interest in Pop-Surreal vintage transportation imagery.

 

 

During the pandemic, I began making handcut collages. I was inspired in part by a New York City artist I had worked for previously, whose specialty was collage work. I helped him make assemblages that were comprised of all sorts of oddly different elements including toys, junk jewelry and other odd items.

 

 

As interesting as they were, I was more drawn to his handmade two-dimensional work. Something about the process resonated with me. During the isolation of Covid, I started exploring the technique myself. I felt fortunate because it seemed like I had an immediate grasp of the various problems and solutions inherent in the medium.

 

 

I’ve always tried to find a kind of perfection in my work, not only during the making, but also in the finished piece. It might be a lofty and unattainable goal, but for me it’s been a worthy one. It feels like a life well spent.

 

Bernardo Corman invites you to follow on Instagram.

 

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