Bernardo Ortiz draws words. Focusing on drawing as a means to capture time, the artist rejects mimetic representations of the world and instead highlights the subtle effects of objects and events. Simple forms like lines, dots, scribbles, and collages appear in his artist's books, notebooks, restaurant napkins, commercial pamphlets, and other surfaces. He is interested in the journey, the transient, drawing as a path, and the process itself. As a result, his series of drawings remain perpetually unfinished, always waiting to absorb the quiet marks of everyday life.
Recent exhibitions include El pánico de los animales pequeños at Alarcón Criado in Seville, Spain (2023); De saltos y tropiezos, a collaboration with Luis Roldán at Casas Riegner in Bogotá, Colombia (2021); Balance, a special project at the Alarcón Criado booth at ARCO Madrid (2019); Balance at Galería Alarcón Criado in Seville, Spain (2019); Baja Resolución at Casas Riegner in Bogotá (2019); Mirror Typology, a joint project with Erick Beltrán at Espacio Odeón in Bogotá (2018); Amerikanische lieder at Siobhan Davies Studios in London, UK (2018); Fricción [Friction] at Galeria Luisa Strina in São Paulo, Brazil (2017); Corrección at Alarcón Criado in Seville (2017); Untitled [a walk] at Volt in Bergen, Norway (2017); Borrar at MAMBA Museo de Arte Moderno in Buenos Aires, Argentina (2016); Agora somos mais de mil at Parque Lage in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2016); and Dibujar y Robar (2016).
Ortiz has participated in the 20th Biennale of Sydney (2016); the Biennial of the Americas at MCA Denver, USA (2015); the Drawing Biennial at Drawing Room in London, UK (2015); the 12th Cuenca Biennial (2014); the 11th FEMSA Monterrey Biennial in Mexico (2014); the 30th São Paulo Biennial (2012); and the 11th Lyon Biennial in France (2011).
His work is part of collections such as the Centre National de Arts Plastiques (CNAP) in France; Deutsche Bank in Berlin; the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection (CPPC) in New York; the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York; the Tate Collection in the UK; the Kadist Collection in San Francisco and Paris; the Colección Maraloto in Bogotá; and Museo de Arte Moderno La Tertulia in Cali.
Ortiz co-curated the 7th Mercosul Biennial in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and the 41st Salón Nacional de Artistas in Cali, Colombia. He has taught at Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá, Universidad del Valle, and Instituto Departamental de Bellas Artes, both in Cali.