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Clifford Bertin

@ffordbertin

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Clifford Bertin
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Oh what a night! Thank you to each and every person who came out last night to my first exhibition in Toronto, Canada.

The French Collection is inspired by my travels through France this past summer. Creating these 18 pieces was a labour of love.

I’d like to thank @cocoandcowe @peeadams @kesh.nama @mllebernard for putting on and coordinating the exhibition. 🖤🙏🏽

A massive thank you to @chrisaarondick @ambermac @lesprodrensoleil for your continued support and help.

The French Collection is available to view / purchase on www.cliffordbertin.com now.

#cliffordbertin #ffordbertin #art #artgallery #artexhibition #artist #abstractart #abstractpainting #abstracts #expressionism #artwork #artistsupport #artreels by @ffordbertin

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4 years ago

Abstract art and expressionism is a multifaceted genre. I fell in love with it early on when I first started painting 30 years and it’s been my passion ever since. Every artist expresses themselves in their own way, this is how I choose to do it.

If you’re in Toronto (Canada) join me on 21 September for the unveiling of my latest work “The French Collection” which is inspired by my time around France in the last few months.

Thank you to @cocoandcowe and @peeadams @mllebernard for organising this upcoming event, hope to see you there. 🙏🏽

Video shot by: the amazing @byhaleigh
Edited by the super talented: @marlenejoanne

#cliffordbertin #artist #abstractart #abstractexpressionism #abstractartist #art #blackartist #artshow #artprocess #artprocessvideo taken in France by @ffordbertin

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4 years ago

Commission pieces require two things: trust and communication.

Every artist has their own process. For me, it begins with experiencing the space in person and getting to know the people who will live with the work. How will they live in the space where the work will be housed?

For this commission, my clients gave me a simple brief: create a work for their new Haussmannian apartment in Paris in the colours of Black and White. The wall in their dining room called for something monumental, 4 metres by 2 metres.

And then there was Paris.

The city was more than a backdrop. Its architecture, light and history became part of the inspiration. In many ways, Paris became another character in the process.

Over six and a half weeks, the work slowly took shape. A commission is ultimately a collaboration: my clients trust me with their vision, and I have the responsibility of creating something that feels true to my practice while becoming part of their home and their lives. 🙏🏽

#cliffordbertin #art #abstractart #contemporaryart taken in Paris, France by @ffordbertin

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a month ago

I’m deeply honoured to have Traveling Griot – A Homecoming featured in @whitehotmagazine’s roundup of notable abstract exhibitions in New York.

The exhibition represents a decade-long journey through Haiti, France, and Mexico, a journey of memory, ancestry, spirit, and belonging. As a griot carries the stories of a people, these works carry the traces of places, histories, and encounters that have shaped me over the last ten years.

My sincere thanks to @artstigator for his thoughtful and generous review. I was particularly moved by your attention to the meditative qualities of the work and his reflections on the relationship between abstraction, memory, and ancestral presence. Thank you as well to Whitehot Magazine for including the exhibition in this feature and for continuing to champion contemporary artists and meaningful dialogue around art.

I’m grateful to curator @shaunabeyondvue and everyone who took the time to experience Traveling Griot – A Homecoming, chapter 1 in Brooklyn.

This exhibition was never intended as a retrospective of where I have been, but as a living record of the journey itself.

With gratitude,

Clifford

#abstract #art #artist #nyc #cliffordbertin taken in New York City by @ffordbertin

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3 months ago

Echoes Between Buildings

Mexico City taught me to let go of control, in more ways than one.

For this collection created over there, I painted using my less dominant hand as a way to quiet perfection and respond more instinctively to the energy surrounding me.

This piece carries the rhythm of the city: layered, emotional, fragmented and alive. Faces began to emerge through the movement of paint and gesture, almost like conversations revealing themselves slowly over time. I wanted the work to feel spontaneous and imperfect, like the experience of moving through a city where memory, noise, humanity and emotion constantly overlap.

From La Ciudad Me Habla — The City Speaks to Me, 2026
91 cm × 121 cm (36 × 48 in)
Acrylic on canvas

DM for acquisition.

#cliffordbertin #art #abstractart #artist by @ffordbertin

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4 months ago

Brooklyn was always home.

When we conceived The Travelling Griot, I knew the first chapter had to begin here — in a city that holds so many of our stories, our contradictions, our migrations. A city that understands, deeply, what it means to carry culture across borders and still find yourself.

On April 16, we opened the doors at Sanders Studio and something really beautiful happened. People didn’t just look at the work — they felt it. They stayed. They talked. They came back.

That is exactly what art is supposed to do.

The Travelling Griot is rooted in the West African Griot tradition — the storyteller who carries memory, lineage, and culture across generations. As curator, my intention was to create not just an exhibition, but an experience. A homecoming. A space where Clifford Bertin’s work could breathe, speak, and be truly witnessed.

We are heading to London and Dakar next — but Brooklyn still has a few more stories to tell.

Private viewings are available until May 16. If you’d like an intimate experience, dm me and let’s make it happen.

This is only the beginning. 🖤

#TravellingGriot #BeyondVue #Brooklyn #CliffordBertin #AbstractArt ArtCuration BlackArt DiasporaArt Homecoming PrivateViewing ContemporaryArt taken in Sanders Studios 525 Waverly Avenue by @ffordbertin

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5 months ago

Before a painting finds its audience, someone has to understand it deeply enough to know where it belongs.
That’s the work I’ve spent over a decade doing.

I’m Shauna Haynes — Co-Founder, CEO & Head Curator at @vuestudioapp. I’m a Renaissance art historian, independent curator, and contemporary art world professional, and I believe that the most powerful thing you can do for an artist is build the right context around their work.

My path has taken me through some of the most respected spaces in the art world — Marian Goodman Gallery, LGDR, Salon 94 — and into the archives at the Bodleian Library at Oxford and Special Collections at the University of Glasgow, where I explored how technology could deepen curatorial practice.

What I bring to Beyond Vue is simple: a belief that art history, cultural context, and innovation belong in the same room.

The Travelling Griot is that room.

Brooklyn was our first chapter. London and Dakar are next.

We’re just getting started. 🖤
— Shauna
Co-Founder & CEO, Beyond Vue taken in Sanders Studios 525 Waverly Avenue by @ffordbertin

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5 months ago

Last night, I came home.
Ten years of journeys — Port-au-Prince, Paris, Normandy, Marseille, Mexico City and more— and then Brooklyn. The neighbourhood that made me. The people who watched me grow. Familiar faces full of love and new connections that felt like they were always meant to happen. I was overwhelmed. Grateful. Full.

Watching people move through the works — standing in front of a canvas, going quiet, leaning in — reminded me why I do this. We all carry within us the capacity to connect, to learn, to share, to grow. Every culture we touch leaves something behind. That is what this work is made of.

This homecoming has been a long time coming, and it would not have happened without the people who believed in the vision before the world could see it.

To my friend Vlad — thank you for coming to us with the idea and setting this whole thing in motion. To Shauna Haynes, CEO of Beyond Vue and Head Curator — you brought this exhibition to life with such precision, care, and brilliance. And to my love who also happens to be Shauna’s business partner Winy — you worked tirelessly, seamlessly, and with everything you had. I am surrounded by the best, and I do not take that lightly. Teamwork made this dream work.

Thank you, Brooklyn. Thank you to everyone who came through last night.

This is only the beginning.

Travelling Griot: A Homecoming is on until 16 May at Sanders Studio, 525 Waverly Avenue, Brooklyn. If you missed the opening, don’t worry — reach out to Shauna at shauna@beyondvueagency.com and she will arrange a private viewing for you.

The journey continues. 🖤 taken in Brooklyn, New York by @ffordbertin

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5 months ago

This is some 30 years in the making. From college/ club kids in New York City’s 90’s to adulthood to mature wisemen (?!). We have been each other witnesses and templates, here to launch what will certainly be one of our greatest adventures. by @ffordbertin

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6 months ago

Ten years ago, I left New York on a journey — one of growth, exploration, and a deepening search for self. Port-au-Prince, Paris, Mexico City+.. Each city a chapter. Each chapter a layer.

On Thursday, I come home.

In West African tradition, the Griot is the keeper of stories, the oral historian who carries the memory of a people as he moves through the world, gathering and returning.

That is what this homecoming feels like to me.

Travelling Griot: A Homecoming opens this Thursday, 16 April in Brooklyn, the place that made me. Thirteen works. Six bodies of work. One return.

I won’t be home for long, but I am happy to be back.

If you can be there Thursday evening, I would love to see you. If not, the exhibition runs through 16 May.

To RSVP to the Vernissage or to arrange a private viewing, reach out to Shauna at shauna@beyondvueagency.com — she will take care of you.

Vernissage: Thursday, 16 April | 5 — 7pm Sanders Studio, 525 Waverly Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11238

#travellinggriot #homecoming #exhibition #brooklyn #cliffordbertin taken in Brooklyn, New York by @ffordbertin

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6 months ago

After a decade of living, creating, and collecting stories across Port-au-Prince, Paris, Normandy, and Mexico City, Clifford is finally returning home to New York—and he wouldn’t want to celebrate this moment without you.

Clifford Bertin: Travelling Griot, A Homecoming showcases eleven works across six distinct series, each shaped by a different place, energy, and lived experience. Rooted in Haitian heritage and spirituality, his layered abstractions reflect a journey built on true cultural immersion and personal evolution. This exhibition is more than art—it’s a full-circle moment, with New York at its heart.

Join him from April 16 to May 16, 2026 at Sanders Studio in Brooklyn, NY.

#karibplusofficial #cliffordbertin #griot #newyork #artexhibit taken in Brooklyn, New York by @ffordbertin

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6 months ago

A little bit of this…

A little bit of that…

And as always, a whole lot of art.

February was a good time. by @ffordbertin

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7 months ago