Katherine Bernhardt

“Budapest – The Gellert Hotel 10:15 PM”
March 23 – May 6, 2006

Galerie Lisa Ruyter is pleased to present “Budapest – The Gellert Hotel 10:15 PM” an exhibition by American artist Katherine Bernhardt. The exhibition is on from March 23 until May 6.

The exhibition shows entirely new paintings, produced during Katherine Bernhardt’s stay at the gallery’s Project Space in Vienna last year. Most of the images show nudes, whose pale, slightly distorted bodies stand against the dark background. Through her daub and drip way of painting and the partly slipped, partly too tight image-section results an aggressive esthetics, which captivates the observer.

Katherine Bernhardt’s style is mostly described as neo-primitivism or Pop-Expressionism and compared to Kirchner, Picasso and Basquiat. Wild brushstrokes and dripping, vivid colors are used to depict images of men or women set against dark backgrounds. The subjects of her paintings one has seen perhaps too many times before: fashion models, consumer goods, and pop stars. Her approach to it is petulant and skeptical, but nevertheless with a lot of enthusiasm and playfulness.

Katherine Bernhardt was born in St Louis, Missouri in 1975 and lives and works in New York. Recent solo exhibitions include Suzanne Tarasieve, Paris (France), Kineko Ivec Gallery, Toronto (Canada), Galeria Comercial, San Juan (Puerto Rico), Canada Gallery, New York, (NY). She has been included in group shows at Modern Culture, New York (NY), Canada Gallery, New York (NY), Canada Gallery, New York (NY), Hales Gallery, London, (England).