TEL: 415.441.8680
Surf Spirals, 2000, mixed media on canvas, 58” x 48”
Leo Bersamina was born in San Francisco, California and grew up predominantly on the coast, just south of the city. Bersamina began studying studio art in Santa Cruz, California. He later attended San Francisco State University to finish his BA with an emphasis in Studio Art. He then received an MFA in Painting at Yale School of Art in New Haven, Connecticut.
Upon graduation from Yale, he lived in New York City. Bersamina later returned to California to teach Studio Art at UC Berkeley. He also has taught at Yale, Stanford, Pont-Aven School of Contemporary Art, Santa Rosa Junior College, and Diablo Valley College (where he currently is a full-time instructor). Bersamina continues to exhibit nationally and internationally, and currently resides just north of San Francisco.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I am an ardent observer of life’s visual rhythms and fleeting moments. I am especially interested in the relationships and patterns that we create during our lives that over time come to define us, and make us definable to others.
I look for patterns we create through our living: relationships with forces of nature, and models created through encounters with other people, experiences, travel, shelter, struggle, habit, and with our own genetic makeup.
EDUCATION
2000 Yale School of Art, MFA Painting
1998 San Francisco State University, BA Fine Arts, Cum Laude
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2010 Sunshiny Day: Finding Optimism in Bits and Pieces,
New Work, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
2008 It’s Kind of Complicated, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
Working Through Something, Diablo Valley College Art Gallery, Pleasant Hill, CA
2006 Lining Up, Mollusk, San Francisco, CA
New Work, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
2003 New Work, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
2001 Blue Room, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
1997 Next to Nature, Weintraub/Thomas Gallery, Sacramento, CA
1995 New Work, Terrain , San Francisco, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2011 "Residency Exhibition", Pilazzo Rinaldi, Noepoli, Italy
"Walking on Thin Ice", Ampersand International Fine Arts
2010 “Space Odyssey”, Southern Exposure, San Francisco,
“Armory Show”, New York, NY
“Cut, Copy and Paste”, College of Marin Gallery,Kentfield, CA
2009 “Pipeline”. SFMOMA Artist Gallery, San Francisco, CA
“Faculty Exhibition”, Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill, CA
2008 “Faculty Exhibition”, Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill, CA
“Chicago Art Fair”, Chicago, IL
“Optic Illusion”, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
2007 “Faculty Exhibition”, Pont-Aven School of Contemporary Art, Pont-Aven, France
“Soex Marks the Spot”, San Francisco. CA
“Overmapped”, USF Art Gallery, San Francisco, CA
“Faculty Exhibition”, Worth Rider Gallery, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
2006 “Momentum”, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
“Artists in the Trades”, Y2Y Gallery, San Francisco, CA
“Nature/Art” Folcrum Art International, CA
2005 “Beautiful Things”, Soularch, San Francisco, CA
“Group Show”, Nichotta Gallery, New York, NY
“Artifactual Fictions”, Urban Art, Berkeley, CA
“Faculty Exhibition”, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
2004 “2 1/2” , San Francisco State University Gallery, San Francisco, CA
“Nuit Blanche, Lost in Translation”, Ampersand International Arts, Paris, France
“Rebus”, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
“Place” Yoo Projects, Los Angeles, CA
“Nuit Blanche, Lost in Translation”, Ampersand International Arts, San Francisco, CA
“Place” Yoo Projects, New York, NY
“Twenty Year Anniversary Exhibition”, SFMOMA Artists Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2003 “Cut, Copy, and Paste,” de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara, CA
“Surf Culture”, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
“Close Calls”, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
“Artists on the Edge”, Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz, CA
“Solid Gold” Southern Exposure Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2002 “Attack:Attraction”, Marcel Sitcoske Gallery, San Francisco, CA
“Looming Large”, LESHER CENTER FOR THE ARTS, Walnut Creek, CA
“California Dreamin’ “w/ Solomon Huerta, DAVIS-KEIL FINE ART, Naples, FL
2000 "Surf Trip", TRACK 16 GALLERY, Los Angeles, CA
"Surf Trip", YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS, San Francisco, CA
"MFA Thesis Exhibition", YALE SCHOOL OF ART, New Haven, CT
1999 "Painting Show", GALLERY PAULE ANGLIM, San Francisco, CA
"Norfolk Yale First-Year MFA Exhibition", Norfolk, CT
"Shiny", SOUTHERN EXPOSURE GALLERY, San Francisco, CA
1998 "1898".(DIWA Arts) THE BRONX MUSEUM, New York, NY
"Fall Grad Student Exhibition", YALE SCHOOL OF ART GALLERY New Haven, CT
"Painting Show", GALLERY PAULE ANGLIM, San Francisco, CA
1997 "Big Deal", Visual Aid, SOMAR GALLERY, San Francisco, CA
"Switchstance", SAN FRANCISCO ARTS COMMISION GALLERY, San Francisco, CA
"Out of Order", SANTA CRUZ ART LEAGUE, Santa Cruz, CA
"On the Rim" , TRANSAMERICA BUILDING GALLERY, San Francisco, CA
"Gallery Artist Show", SFMOMA RENTAL GALLERY, San Francisco, CA
"Crystal Ball", SOUTHERN EXPOSURE, San Francisco. CA
"Leo Bersamina, Alan Firestone, Terry Hoff, ", SAN MATEO ARTS COUNCIL, San Mateo, CA
"Two Year Anniversary Exhibition", FOUR WALLS, San Francisco, CA
1996 "Visual Aid", SOMART GALLERY, San Francisco, CA
"Miniatures", CALIFORNIA MUSEUM OF ART, Santa Rosa, CA
"Three Person Show", SFMOMA Rental Gallery, San Francisco, CA
"GLEAN" Four Walls Gallery, San Francisco, CA
"Third Annual Warehouse Sale", SFMOMA RENTAL GALLERY, San Francisco, CA
"Luscious", SOUTHERN EXPOSURE, San Francisco, CA
"Cozy”, SOUTHERN EXPOSURE, San Francisco, CA
"Oscar Wilde: A Man of Great Importance", TERRAIN, San Francisco, CA
1995 "Neighbors", BOOM GALLERY, Honolulu, Hawaii
“Window Series”, YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS, San Francisco, CA
“Second Annual Warehouse Sale”, SFMOMA RENTAL GALLERY, San Francisco, CA
“Status Report: Seven Years of Artists’ Projects”, TERRAIN, San Francisco, CA
1994 “Homage to the Bard”, TERRAIN, San Francisco, CA
“6 X 6”, VICTORIA ROOM, San Francisco, CA
1993 “Christmas Show”, TERRAIN, San Francisco, CA
“Filler”, TERRAIN, San Francisco, CA
1992 “Digital Art Show”, SF CAMERAWORKS, San Francisco, CA
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Banana Republic
Microsoft
Swiss RE Bank
JP Morgan Chase
The Oakland Museum of Art
The U.S. Embassy
GALLERIES, AWARDS, AND AFFILIATIONS
Gallery Paule Anglim, 14 Geary, San Francisco, CA
SFMOMA Artist Gallery, Bldg. A Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA
Wallace Alexander Gerbode Award, 1994 Art in the Urban Landscape 1994 -1996
(DIWA Arts) Capp Street Project, San Francisco, CA
Phelps Berdan Memorial Award for Distinguish in Painting, Yale School of Art, 2000
Finalist, Insite Award, SFMOMA 2002
PARTNERS COLLECTION
LEO BERSAMINA
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