The art of Richard Bernstein explored through his rarely seen artworks and iconic celebrity covers for Warhol’s Interview magazine in a new DMINTI Metaverse exhibition – launching March 16, 2023.
While Richard Bernstein is most widely remembered today as the creator of the iconic and glamorous celebrity covers of Andy Warhol’s Interview that many assumed were created by Warhol – since the mid 60s he was also one of the pioneers and architects of Pop Art and by the 90s he was an early adopter of digital art, paving the way for the metaverse.
Warhol stated: “Richard Bernstein is my favorite artist. He makes everyone look so famous.” When Warhol wanted to revamp Interview in 1972, he invited his friend Richard Bernstein to join him, ushering in an obsession with celebrity in cultural media. Bernstein painted 189 covers for the magazine, idealizing the famous, the infamous, and the up-and-coming celebrities, including: Grace Jones, Madonna, Debbie Harry, Liza Minnelli, Divine, Rob Lowe, Cher, Diana Ross, Mick Jagger, royalty with Prince Albert of Monaco, and many more. The early portraits began with silver gelatin photographs by renowned photographers including Greg Gorman, Matthew Rolston, Herb Ritts, and Albert Watson that Bernstein would then crop, enlarge, and layer with multiple media such as collage, colored pencil, pastel, Wite-out, and gouache to create the lush images. It was Bernstein’s advanced experimentation with airbrushing that enabled him to create the flawless fantasy images that became his signature style, foreshadowing society’s ongoing addiction to media filters and image enhancements, photoshop, careers as Instagram and TikTok influencers, personalized avatars, and idealized worlds in the metaverse.
Rory Trifon, President of The Estate of Richard Bernstein and the artist’s nephew, said: “It’s exciting to bring to light the underrecognized story of my uncle, Richard Bernstein, and to continue to steward his legacy through both physical exhibitions and the metaverse, a new frontier that I’m sure he would have actively embraced. It’s exhilarating to be at the frontier of blockchain technology and cement Richard’s iconic work on the blockchain. In addition to being an incredibly talented artist, cultivator and networker, he was an innovator maximizing the creative potential of new technologies in art. I hope by sharing his work and influences – the Who’s Who of the cultural zeitgeist from The Chelsea Hotel, Studio 54, Warhol’s Factory, and the decadent dance clubs of the disco-fueled era, audiences can discover, or re-experience, the ideas of the time and be inspired to continue to cultivate creative conversations and collaborations.”
Bernstein’s works are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C., Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C.; Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington D.C., Victoria and Albert Museum, United Kingdom and has had exhibitions at the Iris Clert Gallery, Paris, Gallerie Barozzi, Venice; Gallerie Axiom, London; Gallery Monet, Amsterdam among others. Recent group and solo and group exhibitions include: Andy Warhol’s Social Network: ‘Interview’, Television and Portraits (2022-2023), The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA; Studio 54: Night Magic (2020), Brooklyn Museum, NY; and Richard Bernstein: Fame (2018), Deitch, NY.
Bernstein’s works are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C., Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C.; Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington D.C., Victoria and Albert Museum, United Kingdom and has had exhibitions at the Iris Clert Gallery, Paris, Gallerie Barozzi, Venice; Gallerie Axiom, London; Gallery Monet, Amsterdam among others. Recent group and solo and group exhibitions include: Andy Warhol’s Social Network: ‘Interview’, Television and Portraits (2022-2023), The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA; Studio 54: Night Magic (2020), Brooklyn Museum, NY; and Richard Bernstein: Fame (2018), Deitch, NY.
Established in 2018, The Estate of Richard Bernstein’s mission is to sustain, expand, and protect the legacy of Richard Bernstein, his art, and his ideals. The Estate is led by President Rory Trifon, Richard Bernstein’s nephew. Following the publication of Richard Bernstein Starmaker: Andy Warhol’s Cover Artist by Roger Padilha and Mauricio Padilha which sparked renewed interest in Bernstein’s work, the estate oversaw inclusion of his fine art in a number of high-profile Museum and Gallery shows as well as collaborations with luxury brands such as Coach and Loewe showcasing Bernstein’s archives.
Richard Bernstein: Beautifully Famous breaks ground by exhibiting works currently on view in the museum exhibition – Andy Warhol’s Social Network: ‘Interview’, Television and Portraits at The Andy Warhol Museum through March 20, 2023 – and presenting it simultaneously in the metaverse.
The exhibition features Bernstein’s rarely seen works, from his first solo exhibition in 1965 through the late 1990s, in addition to the entire collection of Bernstein’s covers of Interview (1972-1989), and more than seventy of his original collages, Pilules (pill) and jewel paintings. Presented in the metaverse, the exhibition exponentially expands the reach of the regional museum’s show to global audiences, democratizing access without the limitations of a physical space – and free admission.
Capturing the essence of Warhol’s and Bernstein’s passion for social networking – creating a collision of art, music, fashion, dance, Hollywood, politics, and celebrity – the DMINTI metaverse curates a wide range of programs, performances, and conversations with the artists’ friends, collaborators, muses including Greg Gorman, Joan Agajanian Quinn, Pat Cleveland, and Paul von Ravenstein, and a new generation of creatives inspired by Bernstein’s work.
