text by Poppy Baring
“It’s F-U-N—that’s it, that’s all it is”
These are the words rapper A$AP Rocky once used to describe fashion designer Jeremy Scott. This sentiment naturally extends to contemporary artist Katherine Bernhardt’s work, but are these artist’s works merely playful or do they carry greater significance? In their new exhibition “A Match Made in Heaven,” Scott’s designs are partnered with their Bernhardt equivalent, producing a maximalist fun-filled world full of exuberant color and pop culture references. Although the pair were both born in Missouri in 1975, they met for the first time in November 2023 when the Executive Director of the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, JoAnne Northrup, noticed their commonalities. This exhibition, taking place in Overland Park, Kansas near where both of these artists grew up, is the first to explore the shared references in Scott and Bernhardt's work.
Thirty-five of Bernhardt's energetic paintings are punctuated by one hundred of Scott’s looks from his archive, including those made under his namesake brand and those designed during his time at Moschino. The use of consumer and popular culture symbols in these works act as vessels for the artist's shared sense of irreverent humor which leaves audiences questioning whether they are examples of sophisticated satire or just dramatic up-endings of today’s cultural standards. For Bernhardt, the use of iconic symbols like McDonald’s golden arches, the Pink Panther, cigarettes and Doritos simply comes down to their shape and color. They allow her to fill canvases with combinations of these shapes making infinite paintings that all feel like a complete thought made in a stream of riotous consciousness. Starting with spray paint, Bernhardt first outlines her composition before taking her canvas to the floor where she uses watered-down acrylics to freely cover her characters and shapes; creating vibrant patterns.
Jeremy Scotts has also been known to avoid over-complication. Often letting emotion guide his practice, it is not that his work is anti-intellectual but that ‘rational’ is not part of his creative vocabulary. Whether Scott’s work has loftier inspirations than Coca-Cola, for example, or not, his success in the fashion industry is undeniable. So much so that his work is now weaved into many celebrity moments including Britney Spears's “Toxic” music video and the video for Lady Gaga’s song “Paparazzi;” showing that his love for pop culture is very much mutual.
Both Scott’s and Bernhardt’s works are also inspired and reflective of their environments. In Bernhardt’s case, she grew up in a home filled with color and throughout her career, having completed residencies across the globe, has picked up imagery from her vicinity. The use of coffee and cigarettes in her work, for example, is heavily influenced by the New York delis that surround her where she currently lives and works. In terms of Jeremy Scott’s designs, his fanboy take on pop culture seemed increasingly spot-on as social media exploded. So while they may both be fully immersed in an unapologetically vibrant world, inspired by nostalgic Americana, Scott and Bernhardt’s work can tell us a lot about our current climate while also providing a much-needed escape.
A Match Made in Heaven is open through August 3 at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in Overland Park, Kansas.
