Open Frequency 2006: Catherine Bertola selected by Stephen Feeke

Open Frequency 2006: Catherine Bertola selected by Stephen Feeke Catherine Bertola, After The Fact, 2006. Dust, soap, polish, dusters, cloths, brushes, work coat

Stephen Feeke profiles the work of Catherine Bertola


It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide - lunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ (1892) combines a tale of 19th-century female domestic servitude with insanity. It is also testament to the powerful influence of pattern, as wallpaper becomes the focus of the main character’s obsession in her mental decline. Despite its apparent prettiness, pattern can actually be deeper (if not dangerous) than its surface first suggests.

The significance of pattern figures in the work of Catherine Bertola. In the recent exhibition ‘Residue’ at Firstsite in Colchester, she applied handfuls of dust to the walls forming complex patterns and textures in very low relief – like dirt-brown flock wallpaper. Using dirt, Bertola makes something beautiful but her pattern has purpose beyond the decorative. She often explores ideas about changing social history, with particular emphasis on the domestic interior and the role of women. However, whilst acknowledging general cultural shifts, her work has a very human dimension. There is, for instance, a pervading sense of mortality in the dust that she uses. After all, dust is the stuff of life, consisting of all the shed skin, hair and nails we inadvertently leave behind wherever we go. Those little tumbleweeds in the recesses of every room are tiny hints of our very existence.

Bertola is interested in personal and human aspects of the past. In a site-specific work she often conjures a sense of reality by imagining the people that previously occupied the space. Her patterns are like the discovery of faded-fabrics, an old rug or scarps of wallpaper in an attic or in a derelict property; they are the potent traces of previous occupiers who have moved on, leaving only traces of their existence behind. For instance, she looked into the lives of the Boggis brothers (who first lived in the original 18th-century building) with the Firstsite work. Bertola, decorates a large room in their former home, setting a scene as a starting point for us to imagine previous encounters and possible narratives. As a result, we feel their presence through patterned surfaces of the walls. Evocative of loss and absence, the work often has a rather melancholy and eerie beauty.

As Bertola is aware, designs date and they are very much of a time and a place. The patterns she uses in each work are researched carefully so that the motifs and shapes are appropriate to each setting and period. She is also interested in the cultural signification of decoration. In the past, it has been used to denote wealth and status even in the most puritanical of times. Nowadays, we live in a bland world in comparison to previous generations that applied ornament to every possible surface. Wall coverings were a great luxury and were hand made. Lace, which was also labour intensive, was a valuable commodity that Bertola also references. The pinpricks, made over and over to create the effect of lace, hark back to the original skills largely lost through mechanisation. By her admission, the process becomes obsessive and ritualistic. Her own practice is methodical and involves repetitive tasks, which are a challenge to her own ability to endure.

Stephen Feeke, December 2006

View Catherine Bertola's profile > 


Artist's biography

Catherine Bertola (b. 1976, Rugby) studied at the University of Newcastle (1995-1999) and has exhibited widely in the UK. Recent solo exhibitions include The Property of Two Gentlemen, Firstsite, Colchester (2006), Prickings, Fabrica, Brighton (2006, touring to Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery in 2007), and Domestic Landscapes, International 3, Manchester (2005). Selected group exhibitions include Fine and Fashionable, The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Durham (2006), No place like home, Beacon Art Project, Bridge Farm, Bicker (2006), Blue Star Wedge, Glasgow International (2006), and Opposite of Vertigo, Burren College of Art, Ballyvaughan, Eire and tour (2006).

Bertola was one of the 16 artists resident in a Liverpool high-rise for Further Up in the Air (2002), and following this had a residency at Batiscafo projects in Havana, Cuba, organised by Gasworks/Triangle Arts Trust, London, Arts Council England and the British Council (2003). She was commissioned by the General Assembly, London for the launch of Marks & Spencer LifeStore, exhibited in the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead (2004) and by the Government Art Collection for the DCMS building, London ('Frills and Flounces', 2006). Her most recent commission was for Snowdomes at the National Glass Centre, Sunderland. Her work is in private collections, including Simmons & Simmons, London, and she lives and works in Newcastle.


About Stephen Feeke

Stephen Feeke is Assistant Curator at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds where he is involved in all aspects of exhibition making.

He has curated diverse projects comprising both the ancient and historical (with institutions such as The British Museum, The V&A and the Musee d'Orsay) and the contemporary (with works by artists such as Helen Chadwick and Marc Quinn).

His most recent show, Espaco Aberto/Espaco Fechado: Sites for Sculpture in Modern Brazil, will open in February 2006.


Open Frequency keeps you in touch with new developments in contemporary art practice from across the UK. The artists are selected and profiled by leading curators, artists and writers, presenting the work of artists to watch out for over the coming year. Open Frequency represents a forward-looking glance today of the artists who will be setting the agenda tomorrow.