CESAR BERTEL (1957, Cartagena de Indias)
I lived in the Amazon jungle of Colombia, for 15 years, that is why I paint its landscapes in my large-format watercolors. She is a living being comparable to a woman for her beauty, for her forms, for her entrails, for her fragrances and for that tireless love of giving birth to new fruits. Our Inca, Mayan and Aztec ancestors were right to call it Pachamama, because they saw what I feel when I enter its deep light and decipher its labyrinths, its shapes, I experience my fears and its endless polychromy, that is why in each creation I create a map to go through it and live it, putting the observer in an internal dialogue of harmony with nature in front of my creations.
These jungles are our life, they are the life of planet earth: they are fresh water, they are pure air, they are food, they are humidity, they are medicine, they are shelter, they are biodiverse but they are also mulatto, Indian, mestizo, black, American, they are sacred They are of humanity, they are for everyone, they are our essence. It is not the jungle of New York or Paris; it is not the Nature of Rome, nor the Cibeles of Greece or Peking; It is our mother earth, it is the Pachamama of García Márquez, that of Simón Bolívar, that of José Eustasio Rivera, that of Neruda, that of Chico Méndez, that of Bertha Cáceres, that of Juan Ceballos and many more who offered their lives to defend her. of progress and the overwhelming technology of capital.
In each work I nurture an inner feeling and a respect for the secrets of that immense living being that can only exist through the creative act of a supreme, sovereign and infinitely perfect intelligence, like God’s.
An important characteristic of my watercolors is that they are mostly in large formats, on canvas papers or canvases where I no longer use glass and with this very old procedure I indefinitely extend the life of my works.
Gabriel García Márquez
“En las acuarelas de Bertel yo veo los paisajes de Macondo”
Cartagena de Indias 2008
Fernando de Szyszlo
“Jamás había visto acuarelas con esos tamaños, y lo que más me gusta es que son muy bonitas e impecables”
Cartagena de Indias 2017
EXPOSICIONES
Elart Galería de arte, Lausanna, Suiza.
Latín American Art Showcase, Singapur, 2013.
13° Meet in Beijing Arts Festival 2012, Convention Center, Beijing – China.
16 Beijing Art Expo 2013, Beijing – China.
XVI/XVII Feria Internacional de Arte 2011/2012– Shanghái, China.
I Bienal Iberoamericana de Acuarelas 2009– Museo Casa de la Moneda, Madrid – España.
Exposicion Bicentenario Independencia de Colombia – Real Circulo Artístico de Barcelona, – España.
Feria Artomatic 2008 – Washington DC – USA
Galería BID 2008 (Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo), Washington DC – USA.
Galería Quiroz, Wynwood – Miami, USA, 2011.
Gasteig Cultural Center Kulturzentrum 2014 – Múnich, Alemania.
XIII Bienal Internacional de acuarelas – Namur, Bélgica.
Opera Gallery – Paris, Francia, 2010.
XVI Aniversario Asociación de Acuarelistas de Venezuela – Caracas, Venezuela.
VII Bienal Internacional de Acuarelas, Museo Nacional de la acuarela Alfredo Guati Rojo, México DF.
Museo Edgar Negret, Bogotá, Colombia.
Museo Municipal de Arte Contemporáneo – Cuenca, Ecuador.
Museo Bolivariano de Arte Contemporáneo–Santa Marta, Colombia.
Museo de Arte del Tolima – Ibagué, Colombia.
Museo de Arte Moderno de Cartagena, Cartagena – Colombia.
Museo de Arte Moderno de Bucaramanga, Colombia.
Museo del Agua EPM, Medellín, Colombia.
Museo Nacional del Petróleo, Barrancabermeja, Colombia.
Feria American Pavilion, Shanghai – China 2011.
Feria American Pavilion, Shanghai – China 2012.
Feria 16 Beijing Art Export, China 2013.
Feria Art Miami, 2017
Feria Art Contenedores, Medellín – Colombia 2018.
Feria BARCU de Arte, Bogotá – Colombia 2019.
Galería de la Aduana Biblioteca Piloto del Caribe – Barranquilla, Colombia.
Galería Arte Actual, Bogotá, Colombia.
Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Colombo – Española, – Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.
Centro Cultural Reyes Católicos, Bogotá, Colombia.
Entre otras
MENCIONES Y RECONOCIMIENTOS
Miembro activo IWS International Watercolor Society.
Miembro activo Academia Mundial de Arte.
Delegado Naciones Unidas Colombia – Sostenibilidad Ambiental.
Seleccionado para representar a Colombia en Bienales y Trienales Internacionales de acuarelas en, Colombia, Ecuador, España, y México.
Workshop de acuarelas en Venezuela, Ecuador, Alemania, USA y Colombia.
Talleres de pintura para niños y adultos en zonas de conflicto en Nariño, Putumayo, Tolima, Antioquia, Córdoba, y Sucre en Colombia.
Miembro Jurado calificador de concursos de pintura.