Katherine Bernhardt Catches Em’ All at David Zwirner
Bernhardt depicts a menagerie of Pokémon with typical dynamism and exuberance in her first Hong Kong solo show. Save to My OculaKatherine Bernhardt reimagines Pokémon characters in her exuberant style in her latest exhibition at David Zwirner Hong Kong.
Dummy doll jealous eyes ditto pikachu beefy mimikyu rough play Galarian rapid dash libra horn HP 270 Vmax full art (20 May–5 August 2023) appropriates the visual language of Pokémon trading cards, amplifying their energy in intense hues and rapid, intuitive strokes.
Endeavouring to catch ‘em all, the Missouri-born artist paints characters like Pikachu, Gengar, Chansey, and Ditto. They’re overlaid with scrawlings of statistics and special abilities relevant to their role within the game.
In Ditto VMax Ju Ju (2021), neon magenta and fluorescent green unite in a lurid palette that sweeps across the canvas in thick brushstrokes and heavy outlines to reveal an open-mouthed Ditto.
In Pikachu Pikaball (2021), Pikachu appears to burst out from the canvas in a shock of electrifying yellow animated by the movement of wet-on-wet blues and browns.
Bernhardt’s paintings bleed and drip from one form to the next. Her process involves drawing on upright canvases with spray paint before laying them flat to apply acrylic paint, which she dilutes with thick drops of water.
Main image: Katherine Bernhardt, Ditto VMax Ju Ju (2021) (detail). Acrylic and spray paint on canvas. 152.4 x 121.9 cm. © Katherine Bernhardt. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner, Hong Kong and Canada, New York.
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