In advance of the 100th ANNUAL deadline of June 16th, we asked juror Anders Bergstrom three questions. Stay tuned for our interviews with Joshua Chuang and Lesley Martin!
Anders Bergstrom
When reviewing work for a competition, what do you take into consideration? Form? Process? Content?
I love printmaking. Throughout history, great works of art have been made in the medium, but medium and proficiency of technique should be paired with ideas and artist’s intention. Whether the intention is political or apolitical, to make a pretty picture or something more conceptual – there can still be a unique voice that can come through in the gesture of a sugar lift or the touch of a litho crayon which is specific to that person. I love print processes – and could talk about them all night long – but the message or artist’s intention is equally important.
What projects are you excited to be working on right now and/or in the coming months?
For the last year, I have been working in my studio making unique monotypes-- without a press. It has been a great learning experience. I have been printing for many years at Manhattan Graphics Center, a nonprofit workshop established in 1986, which has etching and litho and screenprint facilities. I love being part of a community print shop experience, where ideas and conversations happen organically and everyone works in a shared space. MGC has recently relocated, and I am looking forward this fall to getting back into the workshop and focusing on some etchings.
How does your work as an artist and a gallerist inform the way you look at other artists’ work?
When I see other work, I think about it from my vantage point as a practitioner and printmaker, which helps me better understand other artists’ insights, process, or meanings. In my dual roles as both gallerist and artist, I have been looking at art for many years, in museums, galleries, friends’ studios, in professional print workshops, or community shops. It’s the culmination of all the years of looking that informs the way I think about art.