Berni Puig: Color as the protagonist

"I have always liked to dabble in all artistic disciplines, but about five or six years ago I got into the world of contemporary muralism, taking advantage of the fact that at Konvent I had many walls to paint. From there, job opportunities arose for me to make a living from it, continue researching and painting." The plastic artist Berni Puig explains all this in mid-morning, leaning against the bar after ordering "a beer, please" and pointing out that it should be Catalunya Ràdio or Radio3 that, in any case, play in the background, just as this declared fan "of l'Alcover Moll, el Comunista and Oye Sherman" likes it.

"My career is characterized by a progressive synthesis of the concept and formality of the work as well as the artistic process, combining studio format and mural work. I was always very inspired by the artists, architects and designers of the Bauhaus and Polish posters from the first half of the 20th century. I suppose that's why I started working with geometries and flat colors, trying to build my own drawing logic," explains the artist, currently focused on strappo, an ancient technique of artistic intervention by detaching the chromatic surface of walls and its consecutive re-signification, which he approaches during an artistic residency at La Providence in Ille-sur-Têt.

Born in Castellbell i el Vilar in 1990, trained as an illustrator at Escola Massana and as an engraver at the International Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Betanzos, since 2017 the parishioner lives "with a lot of wonderful people" in Konvent, an old convent of nuns converted into a laboratory and creative space located in Berga, where a wide diversity of projects outside the institutional spotlight converge, and which Berni does not hesitate to define as his great school and the great experience that has defined him "as an artist and as a person."

These days, and until January 15, he is exhibiting in the collective Aventis at the LegaxArt gallery (Aragó 331) along with Agustín Santoyo, Jordi Guarch, Norbert Bilbeny and Miquel Sabaté.

Medium of involuntary memory

"I am working around color as the protagonist of my works. Through various projects, I record and catalog the color of landscapes, which I do through very minimalist muralism or studio works. It was by developing this concept and idea that I learned the strappo technique, which allows you to literally tear the pigment from the wall. At the MNAC, for example, there are samples of Romanesque art from the church of Sant Climent de Taüll that were torn, transported, and exhibited using that technique."

--Do you work with monumental remains?

--No, I do it with interior paint from abandoned buildings. I tear off paint that someone used to live in their house. Everyday paint. In these practices, I am interested in ceasing to act as an intrinsic creator and taking on more the role of a medium. A task of cataloging the involuntary memory that remains in the landscape and the ruin of the abandoned houses I discover.

Even so, the artist Berni Puig has also intervened in monumental works. He did so in 2020, when he painted the interior of the church Sant Joan Baptista de Penelles, near Lleida, one of the first temples in use to be intervened by a contemporary artist.

"It was the work that helped me break with the world of illustration. I let myself go towards the abstract. For a long time, I had felt a gravitational pull towards abstraction, but it was hard for me to take the step. When they proposed painting the church, I found the perfect reason: I painted the shapes that the fields made when seen from GoogleMaps. From there, I developed in the abstract world, in which I feel much more sincere, because I believe that figuration distracts the viewer."

As a result of this project, Berni also became interested in the conflict surrounding temporary fruit pickers in the Plana de Lleida, which would lead to the exhibition El preu de la fruita (The Price of Fruit), structured as an itinerary with several stops, each offering a different point of view on the conflict through audio recordings of day laborers, farmers, or lawyers, and complemented by various sculptures representing fruits, distributed at different points in Lleida.

Barcelona without haste

"I have always been more of a small-town person, but for the past year I have been fascinated by big cities," explains Berni Puig, who admits that, thanks to projects and residencies he has had in cities like Madrid, Berlin, or Vienna, he has met "a Berni who moves well on the asphalt."

Delighted with their energy and not a fan of their inherent rush, the artist currently makes an appearance in Barcelona "once or twice a month, to consume culture and see friends." A calm and attentive enjoyment of a city he likes.

--You can also take the opportunity to delight in the urban gastronomic offer. Right here, without going any further, we have everything and it's very tasty: set menu, à la carte, portions, tapas, sandwiches…

Berni Puig smiles sideways as he signals for another beer, and finishes:

--I'm a set menu person, but a roadside set menu.

--Too many pixapins we are here at the Bar...