Katherine Bernhardt "Pablo and Efrain" @ Venus Over Manhattan in New York

Venus Over Manhattan presents Pablo and Efrain, an exhibition of new work by painter Katherine Bernhardt, on view beginning September 9, 2015. The exhibition’s title is a nod to the twin artists behind the collective Poncili Creacion, whom the artist met during a recent residency in Puerto Rico. “It’s all about Puerto Rico, so it’s fruit, sharks, water, sea turtles, all tropical,” notes Bernhardt. For Pablo and Efrain, Bernhardt depicts items both specific to the lush landscape of Puerto Rico and her personal affinity for novel and mundane commodities, such as cigarettes, headphones, sharpies and keyboards. Katherine Bernhardt "Pablo and Efrain" will be on view at Venus Over Manhattan until October 24, 2015. Read our review of this exhibition here. photographs by Adam Lehrer. 

Katherine Bernhardt: Fruit Salad @ Venus Over Los Angeles

Venus Over Los Angeles presents, Katherine Bernhardt: Fruit Salad, a large mural covering the exterior walls of the L.A. gallery; a public iteration of her signature wildly colorful still life patterned paintings. Fruit Salad will serve both as Katherine Bernhardt’s first foray into executing a public mural, and as a prelude to her upcoming solo exhibition at Venus Over Manhattan in September. Katherine Bernhardt’s recent series of paintings offer vibrant portraits of objects that exemplify the casually quotidian in acrylic and spray paint. She covers her canvases with a painterly hodgepodge of commodity items such as fruit, cigarettes, junk food, and objects of New York’s day-to-day that float against richly colored, striking backgrounds that themselves seem to push forward and demand the viewer’s attention. The patterns emerge without source material, purely from the artist’s thoughts and imagination, and driven by her experiences. With this in mind, the pieces become part of a larger portrait of the artist herself to be pieced together by the viewer. The often times random assortment of objects relate to one another in a way that is presumably deeply personal to Bernhardt herself. In fine Los Angeles fashion, the exhibition will be on view indefinitely. photographs by Sara Clarken 

Early Man @ The Hole Gallery

The Hole presents a group exhibition entitled Early Man. Taking early art making (as in Upper Paleolithic) as a jumping off point, artists in this show use various strategies to create meaning, from the barely rudimentary to the highly sophisticated. Some of the artists include Aurel Schmidt, David Shrigley, Bruce High Quality Foundation, and more. Early Man will be on view until December 28 at The Hole Gallery, 312 Bowery, New York.