Private view: 7 October 2026, 6-9 pm
Exhibition dates: 8 October – 7 November 2026
Bernardo Ortiz | Peso muerto
Since the day I decided I wanted to call myself a draftsman I try to draw every day. A little bit at least.
This fits perfectly with the sunny narrative of betterment that is a scourge of our times: “Do it,” they say, “and you will be better, something will surely emerge.” Topped, almost always, with the suggestion of unlimited potential and limitless possibilities.
But drawing is about limits. About limits and about accidents, which are the undersides of potential and possibility if you stop to think about it.
Twenty-three years ago, walking down the street, I fell and broke my right wrist. A metal plate went in. The hand was never the same. Not only because it is more clumsy but because it is always, somehow, there. The hand, I mean. I feel its weight. When I draw, I draw against that weight, and if I lean into it, the hand becomes heavier still.
I was tempted to use the word presence.
The effort of holding a pattern together and the tension between holding it and letting it go. Words inscribed on the wall that go on and on like a murmuration of starlings.
Bernardo Ortiz (b. 1972, Colombia) has developed a distinctive practice spanning drawing, writing and typography. His principal interest lies in the notion of the “page” as both a material support and a discursive space, where ideas, words and images intersect and take on new forms. His work extends from paper into books, fabric, canvas and installation, using materials such as graphite, ink, gouache, oil, enamel and folds. Ortiz makes drawings every day, turning his practice into a continuous and disciplined routine. For him, a drawing is complete only once it is framed and installed, making its presentation an integral part of the work. The containers he creates range from simple frames to large-scale installations. He often repeats his drawings, occasionally introducing new motifs to enrich his established repertoire. Repetition, accumulation and subtle variations across different materials and approaches are central to his process, allowing him to trace and question the passage of time.
Ortiz has exhibited internationally, including at the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires (2016), the Biennale of Sydney (2016), the São Paulo Bienal (2012) and the Lyon Biennale (2011). His work is held in major collections including MoMA, the Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Deutsche Bank, Kadist and the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros. He lives and works in Bogotá.