Richard Bernstein

The Estate of Richard Bernstein

Pop Art Provocateur

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.

L-R: Richard Bernstein, portrait of Grace Jones (1977), Interview covers of Madonna (1985) and Debbie Harry (1979). Courtesy The Estate of Richard Bernstein.

About Richard Bernstein

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.

The Estate of Richard Bernstein

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.

Beautifully Famous:
A Richard Bernstein Retrospective Experience

Opening March 16th, 2023 at 6PM EST: Click here to access

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.

Richard Bernstein Megastars Collection

On April 10th, ROVE, DMINTI and The Estate of Richard Bernstein will launch a historic collection of iconic Bernstein images, titled Richard Bernstein’s Megastars, on the Solana blockchain. These special NFTs can be stored in the Rove World app, forming a community around the collection that can participate in Rove’s broader ecosystem. As part of the collection, 50 of these iconic images will be inscribed on the Bitcoin blockchain, where they’ll remain as digital artifacts for all of history. Lucky collectors who mint the rare “gold” versions through Rove will receive the corresponding Bitcoin inscription alongside the physical print of the work. Through this activation, the Richard Bernstein Estate will be the first artist estate to inscribe digital artifacts on Bitcoin, establishing a precedent for how fine art can be authenticated on the most decentralized and secure ledger. To celebrate the launch of both of these activations, DMINTI and ROVE will host an event showcasing the works during NFT NYC 2023, successfully bridging the physical and digital worlds of art.

DMINTI and Rove are thrilled to mint Bernstein’s works on the blockchain as Phil Hoelting, Rove Partner noted, “When the opportunity to work with the Estate of Richard Bernstein to bring these iconic images to the blockchain, and to inscribe them as some of the first on Bitcoin, came to us, it made sense due to Richard being one of the first digital artists with his practice utilizing the Quantel Paintbox to create Andy Warhol’s Interview Magazine covers. The works represent icons of the worlds of film, fashion, music, art, literature, and the overall cultural scene of the time, reflecting the fields that we are currently exploring new ways to support with technology we’ve built here at Rove.” DMINTI is inviting new audiences to engage with Richard Bernstein’s work through advanced technologies as DMINTI’s CEO Carola Jain explains, “We are delighted to invite new generations to appreciate Richard’s iconic images of America’s Pop Era. Warhol and Bernstein helped shape the visual culture of our current digital landscape. We are honored to help monumentalize Richard Bernstein’s work on the blockchain and exhibit his work in our Metaverse.”

Sign up for details on the upcoming mint

ABOUT DMINTI

DMINTI partners with leading artists and cultural luminaries to best express their vision through the most advanced digital technology and Web3 resources. In DMINTI’s metaverse, innovative programs such as Metaverse Mondays connect artists and cultural institutions to global and multi-generational audiences. DMINTI is dedicated to strong educational initiatives and has become a leader offering live cultural, highly curated experiences in the metaverse.

DMINTI has produced projects with artists: Ricci Albenda, Sarah Meyohas, Brendan Murphy, and David Salle; new projects for fall 2022 with Josephine Meckseper and a collaboration by Judy Chicago and Nadya Tolokonnikova.

DMINTI Founders: Shalom Meckenzie, Jennifer Stockman, Dominique Lévy, Christopher Jones, Carola Jain. Advisors & Partners: Hani Rashid, Mark Lemley, Franklin Leonard, Ran Neuner.

About Rove

Rove is a Web3 entertainment platform making it easy for artists, brands and fans to connect. Download the Rove World app to discover exclusive product launches and to engage in unique experiences around the world. Within the app, fans can buy and sell digital collectibles, memberships and tickets to events to gain status and earn unique rewards and perks for engaging with their favorite brands. Rove acts as a gateway for a global audience to participate in Web3 with an intuitive mobile experience that emphasizes speed, security, accessibility, and credit card payment integration. Rove World App is available now for download in iOS and Android.

For more information visit roveworld.xyz, or follow on twitter and instagram at @RoveWorldApp.