The Current Themes in My Work
- Cosmo Bertollini
- Dec 18, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 6
Art is my way of grabbing the messy, raw truths of life and turning them into something tangible. My work digs into the big themes—the ones that demand to be felt: trauma, healing, transformation, the psyche, and power. These aren’t just ideas to me—they’re lived experiences, the driving forces behind everything I create.
I don’t make art to decorate a wall. I make art to start a conversation, to stir something inside you, to get you thinking about your own story. Let’s dive into these themes together and explore the threads that tie my work—and all of us—together.
Trauma: The Spark and the Fire
Trauma is where it often begins. Not because I want to stay in the dark, but because it’s where the truth lives. My work confronts trauma head-on—it’s raw, unpolished, and unapologetic. Every crack, every jagged edge, every layer of chaos is a testament to the moments we survive and the marks they leave behind.
Trauma is powerful. It breaks us, but it also forces us to rebuild. My art doesn’t shy away from that power—it embraces it. It says, “This is where I’ve been. Now, where are we going next?”
Healing and Transformation: The Long, Messy Road
Healing isn’t about erasing what’s happened. It’s about learning to carry it, to own it, to let it shape you without defining you. My work reflects the messy, nonlinear nature of healing—the breaking, the rebuilding, the scars that remain.
Transformation isn’t just about change—it’s about reclamation. It’s about taking the pieces that shattered and turning them into something that feels powerful. That’s the energy I try to channel into every piece I make: the struggle, the grit, and the beauty of becoming.
The Human Psyche: What Lurks Beneath
What drives us? What scares us? What shapes us? These are the questions I bring to my work. The psyche is full of contradictions—desires and fears, the known and the unknown. I use abstraction and symbolism to give these hidden parts a voice, to let them take shape in ways that words never could.
Exploring the psyche isn’t about finding all the answers. It’s about acknowledging the mystery, sitting with the shadows, and maybe even finding power in the parts of ourselves we don’t fully understand.
Power: Reclaiming What’s Ours
Power is threaded through every theme in my work. Trauma shows us what it feels like to lose power. Healing is about regaining it. Transformation is stepping into it fully. The psyche is where we begin to understand its depth.
Power isn’t always loud. Sometimes, it’s quiet. It’s in the decision to keep going, in the vulnerability to face what scares us, in the courage to tell our stories. My art is about finding that power—not in spite of the hard stuff, but because of it.
Symbolism and Abstraction: The Language of Emotion
When words fail, symbols speak. In my work, recurring motifs, textures, and abstract forms build layers of meaning that can’t be fully captured in language. I’m not here to tell you what to feel. I want you to bring your own story to the work and let it meet you where you are.
Abstraction frees us from the need to define everything. It lets us feel instead of explain, connect instead of analyze. That’s the space I aim to create—a space where you can explore, reflect, and, most importantly, feel.
These themes—trauma, healing, transformation, the psyche, and power—are more than just ideas in my work. They’re part of my story, and maybe they’re part of yours too. My art doesn’t exist to tie everything up in a neat little bow. It exists to ask questions, to challenge, and to remind us of what we’re capable of.
So, what resonates with you? What themes speak to you? Let’s start a conversation—leave a comment on the blog, DM me on Instagram, or shoot me an email. Your story matters, and I want to hear it.
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COSMO
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