Bernie Carreño is a nationally renowned metal sculptor whose work can be found is museum, corporate, and private collections across the United States and Canada. He is well known for his massive, colorful, large-scale public art. His trademark style is considered minimalist abstract with a definite constructivist influence. He has exhibited extensively in indoor gallery and outdoor public art venues.
At the heart of Mr. Carreño's work is a striking formal simplicity and attention to form. Ideological constructs are reduced to an elegant play between lines and arcs. Works are organized based on the harmony and tension of opposing planes, combining symmetry and asymmetry as a means to communicate clearly and with strength. The use of unyielding material and the austere industrial processes necessary to transform the metal, is intrinsic to the magnitude of the power behind the form.
Mr. Carreño began his art studies at the Pratt Institute in New York. He earned his BFA and MFA in Sculpture from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has received numerous scholarships, among them: New York State Regents; Knapp Scholarship; Vilas Scholarship; AOP Fellowship. He was a recipient of the prestigious Cintas Fellowship for post-graduate studies. Carreño was awarded Indiana Arts Commission Individual Artists project grants in 2004 and 2006.
Mr. Carreño currently lives and works in Indianapolis and has become an integral part of the Indianapolis visual arts community Indiana Presence. He is the Sculpture Department Head for the Indianapolis Art Center where he teaches classes in all sculpture processes and mediums. He is the founder and managing artist of the IAC’s Biennial Iron Casting Symposium which attracts universities and art institutions from across the nation.