Katherine Bernhardt‘s work can be dizzying, fascinating, colorful and at-times non-sensical — all at the same time. Her subject matter, equally, has no boundaries — Crocs, Pikachu, mushrooms, ET and floating Swoosh’s. For her latest show, the St. Louis-based artist chooses to profile America’s favorite rebel, Bart Simpson.
Housed at Canada gallery in New York, I’m Bart Simpson, who the hell are you? is understandably humorous on first glance, as many of the paintings depict Bart as he moons the viewer. Beyond the risqué scenes shown, however, Bernhardt opens an interesting dialogue into color and semiotics — blending high and low culture to comment on the many archetypes in American pop culture.
Despite always getting into trouble, “Bart is a good guy,” wrote a release by the gallery, “loyal to friends and family. It might be stretching it to think of Bart as a stand-in for Bernhardt, but the thought of these similarly swashbuckling figures as compadres feels apt. Whether or not this is true, there is much to enjoy in the work, including a dizzying array of image-sparks that give Bernhardt the freedom and urgency to make her life and memories dazzlingly real.”
I’m Bart Simpson, who the hell are you? is on view at Canada gallery in New York until February 25.
For more on art, Futura’s Pointman figure gets crafted in stainless steel and equipped with light-up details.
Canada
60 Lispenard St
New York, NY 10013
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wazup.