Bernhardt’s show at Canada invites the viewer into an acid pipe dream world of neons soaked in 80’s nostalgia. Viewers are greeted by bright yellow half-moons of character Bart Simpson, as well as glowing mushrooms, toilet paper, cigarette butts. Even ET, Garfield, and Pink Panther are featured. Bright pinks, oranges and yellows splashed and soaked into canvas against dark backgrounds evokes strong references to 80’s childhood of arcades, laser tag and unnatural food dyes. Bernhardt plays with her format of oval moon Bart on canvas with a 7.5 foot tall wooden cut out sculptural painting of Bart mooning the viewer out in our world. This particular piece brings the character off the canvas to confront viewers while maintaining a two dimensional nature. The pushing of scale is explored even more in the main gallery with the largest piece in the show, which takes up an entire wall and is full of all aforementioned characters. This piece really shows what Bernhardt is all about: paint. She is masterful at letting paint bleed, run, mix and glow. The exploration of the medium through this subject matter of icon Bart Simpson, a true representation of rebellion, is very refreshing. The show cuts loose from the tightness that can be brought to painting and is a must see. Bernhardt is majorly successful with this body of work and brings a strong bold voice to the contemporary painting scene.
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I really like the language you use to describe the experience of the show: acid pipe dream and neons, and the verbs you're using to illustrate the paint textures all soaked and bleeding. The language is very active and engaging. It could be interesting to describe more the personal experience of this piece since it is so humorous and nostalgic and perhaps the layout of the gallery as well. The nostalgia aspect is a big part of the piece so really going in and describing it could be a cool way to transmit the experience of the show to the reader.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the confrontational quality of the work, in the title "I'm Bart Simpson, who the hell are you?", the bright neon palette, and Bart Simpson mooning you around every corner. Your description of Bart's icon as a true representation of rebellion relates to the confrontation of rebellion. It makes us consider who Bart is rebelling against in this space, us as the viewer, the gallery itself, the contemporary art scene, or a larger show of his butt to the world? The humor and brightness of the work begs the viewer to confront Bart and explore the range of color and paint application.
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