Bert Esenherz - Dear Human

Bert Esenherz Dear Human

Bert Esenherz Dear Human

Bert Eseherz in his studio in San Pedro, early 2026. Photographed by Guillaume Zuili.

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Bert Esenherz Self-described “resident alien” with a Duchampian sensibility.

Dear Human (This is not a love song) Soto voce: notes from the underworld of perpetual reinvention in painting, performance, filmmaking.

Allergic to black cats.

- Ron Linden

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The Matrix 2026 AD

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The Matrix 237400 AD

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Love Here & Now

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Dear Human 2026 AD

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Previous spread: Home Sweet Home; this spread: Dear Human 2374 AD

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Dear Human 237400 AD

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Our Town

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Home Sweet Home

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Bert Esenherz - Dear Human There, he gravitated toward filmmaking and produced a series of satirical shorts about urban life. After years of struggling to sell A native Berliner, Bert Esenherz was born

his artwork on the streets, he embraced

in 1961, the year the Berlin Wall was

performance art as a means of self-promotion.

constructed. A child of the Cold War, he

A 2001 cross-country trip finally garnered

understood the constraints of life in a politically

the artist some attention.

divided city. So it comes as no surprise that

The project was conceived as a way to

when he reached his twenties he left Berlin

promote art in local communities while fulfilling

seeking personal freedom. He found it on

the artist’s desire to discover his newly adopted

the water.

country. Bert created a 7’ x 5’ painting that he

After learning to sail on Lake Constance

mounted on wheels with the intention of walking

in Southern Germany, he traveled through

it across America. The plan was to sell his art

Europe during a two-year stint as a sailing

along the way.

instructor, and ultimately captained ships

He got as far as Denver when the money

across the Atlantic. While this proved to be a

ran out and he traded his possessions for

formative experience, art was always on

a Greyhound ticket back to New York. When

his mind.

he finally raised enough money to continue

In 1989 Bert enrolled in Münster School

the journey 9/11 happened and everything

of Design to study media design, but the fall

changed. The resulting economic downturn

of the Berlin Wall drew him back to the streets

created an opportunity for him to show for the

of Berlin. His Wall Hall project tapped into

first time in Los Angeles, where he permanently

the zeitgeist of the underground techno-rave

relocated in 2018. He currently lives and

culture. For these events the artist had only

works in San Pedro.

24 hours to install and strike elaborate

Patterns of building and destruction, both

decorations for rave parties that drew

in society and in the natural world, have been

upwards of 10,000 attendees.

an ongoing source of fascination for the artist.

His interest in the temporal nature of

His most recent series of abstract paintings are

contemporary art led him to organize site-

satellite surveillance maps that simultaneously

specific art installations publically created over

capture the present and future of our planet.

the course of two months, and systematically destroyed by the artists as an opening night performance piece. By the mid-90s Bert moved away from the Berlin party scene and found a new home in New York City.

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Employing a carefully controlled drip process,

while others survived. How we manage our

he organizes his compositions into a grid

resources, what we contribute to environmental

representing the matrix of social systems

change, and the impact of our political systems

that contain us.

are all factors in the equation.

In the works that comprise the exhibition,

Is Dear Human a dystopian vision of the

Dear Human, numeric systems are employed

future? Not necessarily. The future is still in our

alongside pictorial symbols that give way

hands. While the artist believes we don’t have

to a system of dots and squares. All these,

to save the world because the planet will exist

when deciphered with a simple key, reference

without us, we do have a practical obligation

sentimental notions of home, such as Home

to protect the environment in which we live. In

Sweet Home, Our Town, and Love Here & Now.

the end, the message of this show is a direct

They are also the titles of the paintings.

appeal from the artist, “Dear Human, enjoy the

Bert’s vision of the future includes a

life you have right now.”

series of dissipating landscapes, when all Gail Phinney, May 2026

trace of humans and their structures will be destroyed as they were in ancient civilizations.

As imagined scientific documentation, some of the pieces are dated in the present and some in the near and distant future.

I can’t help but draw a parallel between these paintings and the writing of scientist and historian Jared Diamond. In his 2005 book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, the author explores why some civilizations reached a pinnacle and collapsed

Gail Phinney is a freelance writer on art and culture, and the Community Engagement Director at Palos Verdes Art Center

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All works © copyright Bert Esenherz. All rights reserved. solo. an art gallery by studio mousetrap is located at 366 W 7th Street, San Pedro, California 90731.

Intro by Ron Linden. Essay by Gail Phinney. Art Captures provided by the artist. Printed at Acuprint.

Published in May 2026 by Studio Mousetrap, LLC.

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