bergen grew up in San Antonio and Chicago. His first experience in art was as a graffiti artist on the North Shore of Chicago. After high school, he left Chicago for the University of Redlands in Southern California, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Race and Ethnic Studies.

Realizing that he was devoting more and more of his time to painting, bergen decided to pursue art full time and he enrolled in a BFA program in painting at Southwest School of Art in San Antonio. Since leaving the program, he has exhibited his work at galleries in San Antonio, Bozeman, and Los Angeles.