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“I never feel like I have enough paintings and need to make more and more. It’s an obsession to need to make an image. I also like humour in art and try to paint the most mundane thing I can find, like toilet paper or cigarettes, something that you would never think to paint, but that could be funny.”
— Katherine BernhardtElectrifying, obsessive, and unabashedly fun, American artist Katherine Bernhardt’s characteristically energetic paintings are celebrations of colour and form. A fusion of pop iconography, graffiti technique and the formal vernacular of Colour Field artists, Bernhardt’s oeuvre is a personal catalogue of the quotidian of everyday life. Repeatedly painting images of common objects with strong outlines and vibrant hues in an almost frantic frenzy, Bernhardt forms her own visual language that is akin to calligraphy or graffiti tags.
Gathering diverse and unrelated imagery such as watermelons, cigarettes, pizza slices and sharks into cohesive compositions, the artist jumbles with an endless roster of motifs from daily life whilst culling characters from classic American pop culture such as E.T., Garfield, Darth Vader, and most notably, the Pink Panther — as seen in the current work.
Installation view of the current work at Katherine Bernhardt: GREEN
CANADA, New York, 5 January 5 - 11 February 2018
© Canada, New YorkA Maximalist Aesthetic
Featuring her most iconic motif of the pink panther, Laundry Day dazzles with its large scale, bright shades of fuchsia, and brushstrokes full of verve and tenacity. Evoking Hawaiian sunsets and tropical drinks, Bernhardt’s first paintings of her signature panthers were inspired by her son, Khalifa’s love for the cartoon, and their stay at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu. The resort was overflowing in pink decor; from pink towels, pink sheets, pink carpeting, pink beach chairs, pink stationery, to the Pink Panther on TV:
“Everything was pink. I thought, Oh my God, that’s awesome. I should start making all-pink paintings.”
— Katherine BernhardtPulling inspiration from a myriad of sources, Bernhardt’s spontaneous and visually arresting compositions are assembled into collage-like compositions that are representative of a collective cultural memory. Over-saturated and overstuffed, Bernhardt’s paintings reflect the cluttered and layered space of her own house, depicting objects she discovered at local thrift shops, from her parent’s home, or during her travels:
“My work is directly related to the house where I grew up and the maximalist aesthetic that is within it. Space filled up everywhere with no space to breathe, my work kind of copies that. Filling every inch of the canvas with symbols and things.”
— Katherine BernhardtFields of Colour
“I love everything about painting: I love colour and I love mixing it, I always have. I love putting a brush to a canvas and making a line. I love Morris Louis and his stain painting, and Mary Heilmann and her colours. [...] It’s an impulse to make things and for me that impulse is in painting.”
— Katherine BernhardtInheriting the visual lexicon of Colour Field artists such as Morris Louis, Helen Frankenthaler and Mary Heilmann, Bernhardt’s begins her paintings by outlining with spray paint on upright canvases, later placing them onto the floor where she paints with thinned down acrylics, allowing the colours to overflow and interact with each other in chance encounters.
Left: Morris Louis, Untitled, 1959-1960
Collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
© Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Right: Mary Heilmann, Primalon Ballroom, 2002
© Mary Heilmann. Courtesy of the artist, 303 Gallery, New York, and Hauser & WirthBlending seamlessly together, the washes of intense colour in works such as Laundry Day demonstrates the magnetic quality of using a wet-on-wet technique. In Morris Louis’ Untitled, the fellow American artist also utilises board bands of running colour that gravitate and cascade towards the centre of the canvas. Though sharing a similar technique, Bernhardt’s style is distinctive in its more saturated vibrancy. Additionally, Bernhardt looks to Mary Heilmann’s diverse selection of colours for inspiration. Similar to Bernhardt’s approach, Heilmann also demonstrates a clear autobiographical dimension in her oeuvre, evident from the pieces related to her memories, places, and friendship.
Detail of of the present work Collector’s Digest
Born 1975 in St. Louis, American artist Katherine Bernhardt reviewed her BFA from the Art Institute of Chicago and her MFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York. First gaining momentum in 2017, Bernhardt held her first institutional solo exhibition at the Modern Art Museum of Forth Worth, also creating a 60 foot long mural, XXL Superflat Pancake, for the St. Louis Contemporary Art Museum in the same year. Bernhardt’s notable recent exhibitions include: Ahí donde no has llegao’ sabes que te llevaré, Diablo Rosso, Panama City (2021); Katherine Bernhardt, José Luis Vargas: VOODOO MAYO KETCHUP, Carl Freeman Gallery, Margate (2020), and Garfield on Scotch Tape, Xavier Hufkens, Brussels (2019).
In 2021, David Zwirner announced joint representation of the artist along with CANADA Gallery. The artist’s first solo exhibition with Zwirner will be forthcoming in 2022 at their London gallery.
Work by the Bernhardt is found in prominent public and museum collections, including the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.; Knoxville Museum of Art, Tennessee; Portland Museum of Art, Maine; Rubell Museum, Miami; and San Antonio Museum of Art, Texas. Bernhardt lives and works in St. Louis.
Provenance
Canada, New York
Acquired from the above by the present ownerExhibited
New York, Canada, Katherine Bernhardt: GREEN, 5 January - 11 February 2018
Artist Biography
Katherine Bernhardt
American • 1975
Katherine Bernhardt, whether in her paintings or make-shift Moroccan rugs, is rapt by neons and geometries. The artist, who works in New York, takes an almost hasty-flick of a brushstroke that lands as a jagged architectural form — figures cut in space and in buzzing colors that leave a mental trace.
Seemingly each month, multiple galleries, museums or art fairs across the world exhibit Bernhardt's large-scale fantasies and rug-centric installations, as seen in 2017 at Art Basel and with a solo retrospective at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth. "I think the best painters don't intellectualize their own art—they just make stuff," she says; but with sharks circling trash in the water in today's climate, as is depicted in Sharks, Toilet Paper and Plantains, it's not hard to see Bernhardt's deeper meanings.
Property from a Distinguished Private Collection
38
Laundry Day
signed, titled and dated '"Laundry Day" 2017 Katherine Bernhardt Katherine Bernhardt 2017' on the reverse
acrylic and spray paint on canvas
306 x 245 cm. (120 1/2 x 96 1/2 in.)
Executed in 2017.
Estimate
HK$800,000 - 1,200,000
€97,400-146,000
$103,000-154,000
Sold for HK$2,142,000
Charlotte Raybaud
Specialist, Head of Evening Sale
+852 2318 2026
CharlotteRaybaud@phillips.com
20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale
Hong Kong Auction 22 June 2022
1
Julie Curtiss
Funky Boots
Estimate HK$600,000 - 800,000
Sold for HK$1,071,000
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2
Jamian Juliano-Villani
Hand's Job
Estimate HK$400,000 - 600,000
Sold for HK$819,000
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3
Lucy Bull
8:50
Estimate HK$1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for HK$11,382,000
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4
Scott Kahn
Soundview
Estimate HK$900,000 - 1,400,000
Sold for HK$4,032,000
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5
Hernan Bas
Who Told Them We Were Coming?
Estimate HK$4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for HK$3,528,000
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6
Shara Hughes
Pleasure House
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Sold for HK$6,542,000
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7
Loie Hollowell
Linked Lingam in Red and Blue
Estimate HK$1,800,000 - 2,800,000
Sold for HK$3,024,000
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8
Anna Weyant
Chest
Estimate HK$500,000 - 700,000
Sold for HK$4,158,000
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9
George Condo
Transparent Female Forms
Estimate HK$25,000,000 - 35,000,000
Sold for HK$36,550,000
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10
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11
Matthew Wong
Pink Wave
Estimate HK$16,000,000 - 26,000,000
Sold for HK$22,635,000
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12
David Hockney
Painted Landscape (Or Red and Blue Landscape)
Estimate HK$16,000,000 - 24,000,000
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13
Ed Ruscha
Spied Upon Scene: Window
Estimate HK$3,500,000 - 5,500,000
Sold for HK$3,150,000
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14
Huang Yuxing
Pearl Shore
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15
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16
Nicolas Party
Two Portraits
Estimate HK$6,000,000 - 8,000,000
Sold for HK$6,542,000
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17
George Condo
The Strangers
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Sold for HK$5,670,000
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18
Ernie Barnes
Life After Sundown
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for HK$6,048,000
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19
Javier Calleja
1971
Estimate HK$3,500,000 - 5,500,000
Sold for HK$4,032,000
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20
Yoshitomo Nara
Untitled
Estimate HK$6,000,000 - 8,000,000
Sold for HK$7,510,000
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21
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22
Adrian Ghenie
Pie Fight Study 4
Estimate HK$3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Sold for HK$4,032,000
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23
Michaël Borremans
Stars
Estimate HK$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for HK$2,772,000
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24
Li Chen
Angelic Smile
Estimate HK$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for HK$4,284,000
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25
Zhang Xiaogang
Bloodline Series - Big Family
Estimate HK$7,500,000 - 10,000,000
Sold for HK$8,115,000
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26
Zhang Enli
Things
Estimate HK$2,200,000 - 4,200,000
Sold for HK$2,520,000
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27
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28
Lee Ufan
From Line No. 790372
Estimate HK$9,000,000 - 14,000,000
Sold for HK$11,140,000
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29
Pierre Soulages
Peinture 102 x 130 cm, 11 mars 2016
Estimate HK$7,500,000 - 10,000,000
Sold for HK$8,115,000
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30
Ouattara Watts
Intercessor
Estimate HK$800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for HK$1,134,000
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31
Sam Francis
Untitled
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
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32
KAWS
UNTITLED
Estimate HK$3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Sold for HK$3,276,000
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33
Kohei Nawa
PixCell-Deer #21
Estimate HK$2,800,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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34
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35
Anna Park
I to I
Estimate HK$300,000 - 500,000
Sold for HK$2,268,000
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36
Trey Abdella
Some Things Aren't Worth Waiting For
Estimate HK$600,000 - 900,000
Sold for HK$2,646,000
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37
Szabolcs Bozó
One Bird, A Cat and A Man
Estimate HK$400,000 - 600,000
Sold for HK$882,000
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38
Katherine Bernhardt
Laundry Day
Estimate HK$800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for HK$2,142,000
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39
Issy Wood
Dog With Pendants (Not as Close)
Estimate HK$1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for HK$1,386,000
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40
Robert Nava
Shark Wing Pegasus
Estimate HK$1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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41
Ayako Rokkaku
Untitled
Estimate HK$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for HK$8,115,000
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42
Allison Zuckerman
Bullseye
Estimate HK$550,000 - 750,000
Sold for HK$1,071,000
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43
Serge Attukwei Clottey
Valentine's Day
Estimate HK$250,000 - 450,000
Sold for HK$693,000
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44
Genieve Figgis
Pink Ballroom
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for HK$2,016,000
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45
Emmanuel Taku
Brothers in Red
Estimate HK$300,000 - 500,000
Sold for HK$1,512,000
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46
Aboudia
Take Me II
Estimate HK$500,000 - 700,000
Sold for HK$2,520,000
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47
José Parlá
Writers' Bench: Grand Concourse & 149th Street, The Bronx
Estimate HK$800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for HK$1,764,000
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48
Edgar Plans
Night Creatures
Estimate HK$1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for HK$3,024,000
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49
Rafa Macarrón
Sin título (Cosmos)
Estimate HK$700,000 - 1,000,000
Sold for HK$1,386,000
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