Roberto Bernardi is an artist based in Todi. He is represented by Bernarducci Meisel Gallery in New York City. Recently, he has had a solo exhibition at the Hermitage Museum. Bernardi is a Photorealist painter who explores reflections in still lifes of plates and kitchens, glass, and candy.
He started to paint at a very young age and his first works in oils date back to the first half of the eighties. He dedicated his studies to the learning of pictorial techniques which would have a significant influence on his artistic formation. In 1993 after his leaving school examinations in a science liceo, he moved to Rome where he worked as a restorer in the church of San Francesco a Ripa. After an initial foray with landscapes and portraits, Bernardi turned towards a totally new kind of realism closely associated to Photorealism (Hyperrealism).
Roberto Bernardi’s paintings have morphed from the dramatic, traditional, classical still lifes so obviously influenced by his Italian heritage to the startling, post-modern imagery he is painting today. Bernardi has an innate understanding of contemporary painting, in particular, the work of the Pop artists and his predecessors in the Photorealist movement. His work has evolved before our very eyes and while doing so, he has been able to maintain a unique, fresh, original point of view. His work has expanded from fastidious representations of glass (such as Arcobaleno, wherein colorful glass vessels are arranged so that each shard of delicate light can be explored, celebrated and perfectly transcribed) to these most recent paintings of domestic interiors.
Roberto Bernardi – Bio
Roberto Bernardi was born in Todi in 1974. His first works date from the mid eighties, and whilst a young student he dedicated himself to the study of Renaissance painting and pictorial technique, which later proved to be extremely important in the development of his personal creativity. In 1993 he moved to Rome, where he worked as a restorer in the church of San Fransesco a Ripa. After this experience, he dedicated himself full time to the creation of his own hyper-realist works.
The realistic elements of the composition are filtered through a photographic image resulting in a highly technological reproduction. This image is then successfully translated, using the traditional techniques of oil painting on canvas, to a perfect image of reality. Despite adopting the aid of advanced photo technology, his personal translation of his subjects follows a classical line, such as the traditional priming of the canvas, as practised by the painters of the 16th and 17th centuries, combined with the perfection of oil painting technique. Bernardi’s still life follows a mould of classic compositions with great emphasis on the contrast of lightness and transparency further enhanced by his ability to bring out light directly from the objects represented as if they themselves had the capacity to emit light. His paintings are in numerous public and private collections throughout the world.