Bret Slater: Multi-journeys of Nameless Perception

November 18 - December 30, 2023

B9_JR, 2023, acrylic on linen, 8.12 x 1.12 in.

The Multi-journeys are a series of paintings which are the same shape as a used multi-journey tram ticket from Zürich, Switzerland the artist kept with him since his first visit a decade ago.

The second part of the exhibition title is a reminder that whatever it is we see, perceive, experience, or are otherwise affected by, is equally as multi-dimensional as we are as individuals, and exist beyond a simple categorization.

Bret Slater (born 1987 in Bronx, NY) received his BFA in Painting + Drawing from Purchase College, State University of New York in 2009. In 2011, he received his MFA in Studio Art from SMU in Dallas, Texas. Since then, he has had solo exhibitions in Chicago, Dallas, New York, Brussels, Zürich, and Portugal. Slater’s work has been included in group exhibitions at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Museum im Kulturspeicher Würzburg, Germany, and works can be found in the public collections of the Dallas Museum of Art and the Indianapolis Museum of Art. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.  

Berta Kolteniuk investigates life from its origins, inside cells and membranes, and inside memory. She offers us a deep journey, into the unconscious through underwater biological forms that inhabit different climates and temperatures. The artist imagines the outer space between planets and galaxies and works from the playful, the body, the emotions, and physical and sensory experiences. Berta has researched fluid mechanics with the Physics department of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, where she began her Micro-to-macro series on which she continues to work. Her work is based on the wonder and mystery of life that connects us. 

Interested in nature and the change of seasons where different atmospheres, colors, and moods occur, she reflects on time, observing a cycle that is constantly repeated. Aguas profundas invites the viewer to an intimate chromatic journey through painting. 

Berta’s work lies within the context of painting as an expansive medium. She investigates the painting itself and its field of action inside and outside the frame, exploring space towards the three-dimensional. She works with spilled liquid matter in a free gesture that evokes the flow of matter and chance. She detaches it from the wall to interact with it through skins or layers in which she wraps frames or carries out performative actions. Her works investigate the origin of life, cellular forms, fauna, flora, and astronomy, from the micro to the macrocosmic plane.

Berta Kolteniuk (1958), is a Mexican artist, and member of the National System of Art Creators, FONCA. She lived in the United States for seven years (1997 - 2004) in Dallas Texas, and Washington D.C., where she consolidated her career exhibiting individually and collectively. She has participated in more than 100 collective exhibitions and 27 solo shows both in Mexico and abroad. Berta lives and works in Mexico City.