Quick to Listen: Under the noise and chaos of our current culture, this body of work began in 2019. Born from an impulse to find respite in what was quiet and close, I sought signs of life hiding among the overlooked and unseen. Having just moved into a new home and studio, I turned toward my local environs, scouring my surroundings for pictures lying in wait. When the pandemic erupted in 2020, interrupting life as we knew it, my painting slowed to a halt. I put most of these pieces into storage and worked on other things, looking for emotional ballast - lowering my speed for the long haul. After five months, I returned to these pieces to renew the conversation. 2021 proved to be more about apprehending what was needed and less about imposing my artistic will. The paintings now asked more of me: lengthening my patience as they slowed my hand; widening my trust as they deepened my care. As we move into the rest of 2022 and beyond, my hope is that these canvases might convey something of my gratitude for their repose - reflecting the lesson in listening they worked in me.

Nathan Bertling (b.1974) studied visual arts and communications at Furman University, graduating cum laude in 1996. From 2002-2008, he joined the atelier of American master Benjamin F. Long, IV in Asheville, NC. There Bertling studied drawing and painting in the Old Master tradition, eventually teaching portrait drawing at the school over his final two years. Recently, he was named a Living Artist by the Art Renewal Center, and in 2020 was selected as a Semi-Finalist in the ARC’s 15th Annual International Salon. As a private tutor, Bertling shares his knowledge and practice with students in his home studio in Greenville, SC. His works hang in numerous private collections. Later this April, he and his wife Hallie, a children’s book author-illustrator, will be attending an artist’s residency in Roskilde, Denmark. Partnered as emerging artists, they are excited to explore the world as they continue engaging it with their work.