Cuando veo de nuevo el mar

Otto Berchem

BornNationalityBased In
1967AmericanBogotá
Biography

Otto Berchem’s practice explores social and visual codes, focusing on the relationships between language, architecture, history and poetry. His conceptual based practice employs a wide variety of media, including painting, video, public interventions and other unconventional artist activities. Berchem’s interest in codes goes back to 1994’s Men’s Room Etiquette, a public intervention touching upon the unwritten codes of how men behave with other men in public toilets. With The Dating Market, a project conceived in 2000, Berchem created a series of shopping baskets with a flower motif that patrons of supermarkets could opt for, labelling themselves “available” and looking for a date. In Temporary Person Passing Through, a work for the 2005 the Istanbul Biennial, Berchem investigated the relationship between Istanbul’s street children and their movement within the city, using the visual language of Hobo Signs, a system of symbols employed by itinerant workers in the USA from the 19th to the mid 20th century. With his recent work, the artist continues his exploration of signs, human relationships and codes, to create a chromatic alphabet. Berchem’s chromatic code is inspired by the writings of Jorge Adoum and Vladimir Nabokov, Peter Saville’s designs for the first three New Order albums, and the condition of Synesthesia. Through the use of this alphabet, Berchem has proposed a series of works reviewing iconic images and creating his own documents by strategically deleting preexisting meanings and slogans, and replacing them with his interpretation of reality. ...

Selected Artworks
Swept Away
Otto Berchem
Swept Away, 2017
81.28cm
Tropical Buren
Inverted Americas
Otto Berchem
Inverted Americas, 2017
50 x 73.5cm
Forgive me for what i have not done
Otto Berchem
Forgive me for what i have not done, 2019
115 x 115cm
La ola no tiene forma
Otto Berchem
La ola no tiene forma, 2019
100 x 100cm
Cuando veo de nuevo el mar
Otto Berchem
Cuando veo de nuevo el mar, 2019
50 x 73.5cm
Muere de sed el mar
Otto Berchem
Muere de sed el mar, 2019
50 x 73.5cm
Luna (V)
Otto Berchem
Luna (V), 2018
30 x 30cm
Luna (IV)
Otto Berchem
Luna (IV), 2018
30 x 30cm
Luna (III)
Otto Berchem
Luna (III), 2018
30 x 30cm
Sol (II)
Otto Berchem
Sol (II), 2018
70 x 70cm
Mobilized (Chairs)
Otto Berchem
Mobilized (Chairs), 2019
Motel Hello Hell
Otto Berchem
Motel Hello Hell, 2004
100 x 120cm
Geography
Let Our Parents Vote
Otto Berchem
Let Our Parents Vote, 2018
50 x 50cm
With Tongue of Wood
Otto Berchem
With Tongue of Wood, 2014
70 x 280cm
We Are Many
Otto Berchem
We Are Many, 2015
30.5 x 91.5cm
Keep abortion legal
Otto Berchem
Keep abortion legal, 2020
50 x 50cm
Rehearse (Roma)
Otto Berchem
Rehearse (Roma), 2018
50 x 73.5cm
Muchos Somos (Hong Kong)
Otto Berchem
Muchos Somos (Hong Kong), 2014
30 x 44cm
Hong Kong (Libre)
Otto Berchem
Hong Kong (Libre), 2014
30 x 30cm
Smith Must Go
Otto Berchem
Smith Must Go, 2015
30 x 43.5cm
Unidad Popular
Otto Berchem
Unidad Popular, 2015
30 x 43.5cm
Pandemia Buren
Otto Berchem
Pandemia Buren, 2020
113.1 x 129.5cm
Arecaceae (Gray)
Otto Berchem
Arecaceae (Gray), 2016
43.5 x 43.5cm
Monstera Deliciosa (Black)
Otto Berchem
Monstera Deliciosa (Black), 2016
78.3 x 78.3cm
Brugmansia (Red)
Otto Berchem
Brugmansia (Red), 2016
43.5 x 60.9cm
Dieffenbachia (Black)
Otto Berchem
Dieffenbachia (Black), 2016
78.3 x 78.3cm
Espeletia (Blue)
Otto Berchem
Espeletia (Blue), 2016
43.5 x 43.5cm
Inverted Americas
Otto Berchem
Inverted Americas, 2017
Cuando veo de nuevo el mar
Otto Berchem
Cuando veo de nuevo el mar, 2019
50 x 73.5cm
Por que me preguntan las olas
Otto Berchem
Por que me preguntan las olas, 2019
50 x 73.5cm
Muere de sed el mar
Otto Berchem
Muere de sed el mar, 2019
50 x 73.5cm
may I feel said he
Otto Berchem
may I feel said he, 2024
60.96 x 60.96cm
may i touch said he
Otto Berchem
may i touch said he, 2024
60.96 x 60.96cm
El Mar El Mar
Otto Berchem
El Mar El Mar, 2019
100 x 100cm
Alphabet
Otto Berchem
Alphabet, 2024
60.96 x 50.8cm
cccome said he
Otto Berchem
cccome said he, 2024
60.96 x 60.96cm
The Color of the Sea
Otto Berchem
The Color of the Sea, 2024
91.44 x 60.96cm
We Are Two
Otto Berchem
We Are Two, 2024
50.8 x 50.8cm
Dos Somos
Otto Berchem
Dos Somos, 2024
50.8 x 50.8cm
Gallery Representation
Biennals
Istanbul Biennial2005 - Istanbul
Istanbul Biennial2005 - Istanbul
Tirana Biennial2003 - Tirana
Tirana Biennial2003 - Tirana
Gwangju Biennial2002 - Gwangju
Gwangju Biennial2002 - Gwangju
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