M  a  r  t i  n    L  .   B  e  r  n  s  t  e  i  n
7  7  3  .  3  0  8  .  5  5  5  5
w w w . m a r t i n b e r n s t e i n . c o m        
e m a i l :  m a r t i n @ m a r t i n b e r n s t e i n . c o m

Facebook and Instagram

B O R N  : April 2, 1949 Cincinnati, OH

R E S I D E N C E :  1980 – 1994 Los Angeles, CA  1994 – 2001 Miami, Fl 2001 – 2004 2004 – Today Chicago, Il bi-yearly USA touring

E D U C AT I O N  : 1971, BFA, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 1968, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

  

M a r t i n  L .  B e r n s t e i n

G A L L E R I E S :

Koelsch Gallery, Houston, TX 2023

S E L E C T E D  S O L O  G A L L E R Y  E X H I B I T I O N S

 

Centerline 2019, Zhou B Art Center, Chicago, IL
“Martin L.Bernstein New painting”, Zhou B Art Center, Chicago, IL 2005/2006
A Personal Odyssee: Paintings, Jewelry and Mixed Media Installation by Martin Bernstein, Weston Art Gallery, Cincinnati, OH  2005
“About Face”, ZBCenter for the Arts,
Martin L. Bernstein, Chicago, IL 2005 “Living”, ZBCenter for the Arts,
Martin L. Bernstein, Chicago, IL 2004 “Preview, Three facets of…”,
Martin L. Bernstein, ZBCenter for the Arts, Chicago, IL 2003 “Treasure Trove”, Objects, Jewelry by Martin Bernstein Oskar Friedl Gallery, Chicago, IL 2002
“PaperWork: An exhibition of Paper” Oskar Freidl Gallery, Chicago, IL 2002
“Surface to Earth” Andrew-Shire Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 1999 “Kowargzie”, Stone by Stone Gallery, Dallas, TX 1997
“Victory:s Homage at the Battlement of Her Soul”, 8th Floor Gallery, NY, NY 1996
“Martin L. Bernstein on Canvas”, State – Thomas Gallery, Dallas, TX1996 “All That  Glitter’s,The World of Martin Bernstein”, BP Gallery, Houston, TX 1996
“Lair”, Sally Sprout Gallery, Houston, TX 1995 “Jeweled Objects, Martin L. Bernstein”,
Main Street Gallery, Sag Harbor, NY 1994 “Martin Bernstein”, OCHI Gallery, Ketchum, ID
1990 “Marteanus”, Environmental Installation, Diverseworks, Houston, TX  1988
“Environmental Installations”, EM House, Los Angeles, CA 1987 “Under the Sun”, Otis-Parsons Gallery, Site- Installation, Los Angeles, CA 1987 “11-11,
Torrents,”Stock Exchange, Performance-Installation”, Los Angeles, CA 1986  1987
“Martin Bernstein” LACMA, Sales and Rental Gallery, Los Angeles, CA  1984
“Carmelita’s Jewels”, Nightscene, Beverly Hills, CA, Performance 1983
“Altered Image”, Newport Art Museum Rental Gallery, Newport Beach, CA 1982
“Martin Bernstein: Paintings” Newport Art Museum Rental Gallery, Newport Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA 1980
“Essence and Art”, Contemporary Media Study Center, Dayton, OH 1980 “Martin Bernstein: Painting”, Art Consortium, Cincinnati, OH 1980 “Painting, Carnegie Art Center” , Covington, KY 1979
“Painted Polaroids”, Kata Gallery, New York, NY 1978 “Invitational Drawing Show”, C.A.G.E., Cincinnati, OH  1978
“Painting, Martin Bernstein Inaugural Exhibition”,C.A.G.E.,
Cincinnati, OH  

M a r t i n  L .  B e r n s t e i n S E L E C T E D  G R O U P  E X H I B  I T I O N S:  

2015 “Enchantment, Nature Re-Imagined”,Beverly Arts Alliance, Chicago, IL 2011 U-M Allumni Show, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL 2011 Centerline 2011,
Zhou B Art Center Gallery, Chicago, IL 2011 Progression, Zhou B Art Center Gallery, curated by Sergio Gomez, Chicago, IL
2011 World Gold Council Best Designer’s 2010, JCK, Las Vegas, NV 2010 World Gold Council Best Designer’s 2010, JCK, Las Vegas, NV 2010
“Interstices: The Inner Space” University of Michigan,Alumni Show, Ann Arbor, MI 2010
“Influences”, Betty Dare Gallery, Chicago, IL 2010 UMCGC Art Show, Zolla Lieberman, Chicago, IL 2010
“Centerline 2010” ZhouB Art Center Gallery, Chicago, Il 2009 “Visionaries” 2009 Auction, MAD, Museum of Design, New York, NY 2009
“Center Line 2009” ZhouB Art Center, Chicago, IL  2008
“The Space Between”, University Of Michigan, Alumni Show, Ann Arbor, MI 2002 “Small is Beautiful”, K Gallery, Washington DC  2002
“PaperWork: An exhibition of Paper” Oskar Freidl Gallery, Chicago, IL 1996
“Treasure Boxes”, Artables, Houston TX  1995 “Seductive Surfaces”, Sally Sprout Gallery, Houston, TX 1995
“Group”, State -Thomas Gallery, Dallas, TX 1994 DIFFA Collection, National Tours, Los Angeles, CA 1994 “Born Again Objects”, Arlington Museum of Art, Arlington, TX 1993
“In The Raw”, Santa Monica, CA 1992 “Group Paint”, Andrew-Shire Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 1988
“Group”,Gallery of Functional Art, Los Angeles, CA  1987
“Group”,Virginia Miller Gallery, Miami, Fl 1986 “California Assemblage, Past and Present”, Forum of Contemporary Art, Santa Barbara, CA 1986
“California Assemblage, Past and Present”, Santa Cruz, Museum of Art, Santa Cruz, CA 1985
“Dimensions”, LACMA, Los Angeles, CA  1985 “The Torso”, Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Los Angeles,CA 1984
“HOT”, Simard – Halm Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 1984
“Art and the Familiar Object”, Security Pacific Bank Plaza Gallery, Los Angeles, CA  1984
“Functional Art”, Functional Art Gallery, LosAngeles, CA 1984
“County Sculpture; Source and Process”, Guggenheim Gallery, Orange, CA 1984
“Postmodern Mannerisms”, Ettinger Galleries, Laguna Beach, CA 1984
“Drawing a Personal View”, Mills House Gallery, Garden Grove, CA 1984
“Drawing a Personal View”, Mills House Gallery, Garden Grove, CA 1984 “Contemporary Uses of the Photographic Medium”, Amarillo Art Center, Amarillo, TX 1983
“Painted Polaroids”, Orlando Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 1983
“Boxed Art”, Laguna Beach Museum of Art, Laguna Beach, CA 1983 “29th Annual”, San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, CA  1983
“Forum I”, Laguna Beach Museum of Art, Laguna Beach, CA 1982
“Poetic Objects”, WPA Gallery, Washington D.C., Walter Hopps, Curator 1982
“The Human Presence”, Toni Birkhead Gallery, Cincinnati, OH 1981 “Cincinnati Invitational Exhibition 1981”
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH 1980
“About Faces”, Southern Ohio Museum and Cultural Center, Portsmith, OH  1980
“SX-70”, Contemporary Media Center, Dayton, OH 1979
“Strategies Exhibition, Art of the Eighties”, Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati, OH 1978
“Invitational Drawing Show”, C.A.G.E., Cincinnati, OH 1975
“1975 Mid-Year Show”, Butler Institute, Youngstown, OH 1975
“1975 Invitational Exhibition”, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH

M a r t i n  L .  B e r n s t e i n S E L E C T E D  C O L L E C T I O N S :  

Eleanor Miller and Tom Weinberg, Nancy Kienholz, Houston, TX Steven Tyler, USA H.M. Queen Rania, Jordon Marily Oshman, Houston, TX Christy and Louis Cushman, Houston, TX John Howenstine, Houston, TX Sharon Simpson, Oakland, CA Jean Simpson, Oakland, CA The Island Hotel, Newport Beach, CA The Palms Casino Resort, Sky Villa, Las Vegas, NV Peninsula Hotel and Spa, Beverly Hills, CA MGM Grand, Las Vegas, NV Michael and Carol Prussian, Chicago, IL Rikki Klieman and Chief William Bratton, Los Angeles, CA Alfred A.Checchi, Los Angeles, CA HRH Mohammed Bin Naif, NinAbdulaziz AL SA, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia  Atlantis Resort Paradise Island, Bahamas Grand Tiara Hotel, Kyoto, Japan World Trade Bank, Los Angeles, CA Soedarjo, Jakarta, Indonesia Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Tierney, Newport, CA  Jane Seymour, Beverly Hills, CA  Bonyce Knowles, Beverly Hills, CA Sheryle Ulyate, Irving, Ca Cher, Beverly Hills, CA  Belinda Carlyle, Beverly Hills, CA  Walter Hopps, Houston, TX Caroline Huber, Houston, TX  Barbara Hershey, Beverly Hills, CA  Cadillac-Fairview, Los Angeles, CA  Edward & Jan Turin, Tenafly, N.J. Tressa Miller, Los Angeles, CA  La Opinion, Los Angeles, CA  Knoller/Bernstein, Stuart, FL Quail Lodge, Carmel, CA, Hong Kong, China  Barrett Collection, Dallas, TX Internal Revenue Service, Cincinnati, OH  Mr. & Mrs. Boyd Jefferies, Laguna Beach, CA  Carol Ballard, Houston, TX  Cincinnati Bell Telephone Co., Cincinnati, OH  The Bel Air Hotel, Bel Air, CA Hyatt Hotels, International  DoubletreeHotels Sheraton Hotels

 

O R G A N I Z A T I O N S  :

Cincinnati Artists Group Effort (C.A.G.E.) Founder, Board of Directors, Cincinnati, OH, 1978

  L E C T U R E S  / T A L K S :

2005/2006 Gallery Talk: A Personal Odysee: Paintings, Jewelry and Mixed Media Installation by Martin Bernstein, Weston Art Gallery, Cincinnati, OH  1994
Born Again Objects, Arlington Museum of Art, Arlington, TX 1983
The Altered Image, Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA 1983
Project Series, Laguna Beach Museum of Art, Laguna Beach, CA

 

A W A R D S  &  P E R F O R M A N C E :  

World Gold Council’s WGC Best Designer’s of 2012 Victoria Secrets Fashion Show, “Aquatic Life”,  2011
World Gold Council’s WGC Best Designer’s of 2011
World Gold Council’s WGC Best Designer’s of 2010

  R E F E R E N C E S :  

http://chicagogenie.com/third-fridays-the-zhou-brothers-way/ Paper City, Houston, Style and Fashion, December 
2014 JCK Magazine, June Issue 2014, The Look, pg.94 JCK Magazine,
September Issue, The Golden Rush,  pg. 109, 2013 http://www.jckonline.com/blogs/style-360/2013/09/10/get-to-know-martin-bernstein, 
September 10, 2013 Elle Magazine, http://www.elle.com/accessories/bags-shoes-jewelry/new-fine-jewelry-spring-2013
Christina Aguilera, Headress, The Voice, Semi-Final Episode, May 2, 2012 ForbesLife Magazine, The Eye, “Babbles, Martin Bernstein” pg.40, July 2010
Conde’ Nast Traveler, Word of Mouth, The Detox Trip, “The Bauble”, pg.30
August 2010 Cosmo Magazine, Cover and interview with Heidi Klum, It’s in the Juice, May 2010, cover, & Pgs. 36,37, 278 Watch and Jewelry Review, Spot light on new designers, Mixed Media, Jeff Prine, January 2010, Pg. 20, 21.
The Chicago Outlook, Third Fridays: Does the gallery crawl pay off for Bridgeport’s art community?,
Rachel Wiseman april 21, 2010 Town and Country Magazine, “Sleek and Chic”‘ March 2007, pg. 190-194 
Bradley, Barbara “Comec, Fashion Show” Commercial Appeal, M12, August 27, 2006 US Magazine, Hot Pics!
Jane Seymour, pg.32, Issue 595,July 10, 2006 Jane Durell, “Many Works, One Piece Martin Bernstein’s deeply personal show at the Weston Gallery is not for minimalists,” CityBeat Magazine, pg.41, feb 22 -28,
2006 Jud Yalkut, Yvonne van Eijden and Martin Bernstein in Cincinnati, “Visuals: Ethereal Text and Jewelled Realities”, Dayton City Paper,
March 1, 2006 Vogue Magazine, “Finding Shangri-la”, Tonni Goodman, Photo by Steven Miesel,
May pg.189, 2005 Bradley, Barbara”Razzle Dazzle” Commercial Appeal, Style M8,
May 29, 2005 Bradley, Barbara”Fall Fashion” Commercial Appeal, M6, September 25,
2005 Zink Magazine, “Birds of Prey”, Photos: Heidi Niemala, April, 2003 Surface Magazine Photos: Stephen Lee, Issue 38, 2003 pgs 172-175
Cover: Rolling Stone Magazine, Photo: Albert Watson, October 31, 2002 Jane Magazine, Photos: Kelly Klein, March 2002, pgs 114,
115 Bess Liebenson, Slip into Something More Artistic, New York Times, CT, Nov 19, 2000 pg 26
Wearable Art, Greenwich Magazine, December 2000 The Arts, Greenwich Time, November19, 2000, pg 5B Art in America Guide 2000, August 2000, pg. 229
Hotel Venus Magazine, Photo set Installation, Issue 2, 2001, pgs 18, 19, 20, 21
Alschuler, Al, “Living and Working Here”, Miami Herald, Art & Design, H. D. 1995 pg. 7 
Lewis, M. “Born From Neptune’s Garden”, Wire 1995, Miami Beach
Lewis M.& Noller, K.,”Fabulous Does Wonderland, The Perspectives of Martin Bernstein”, Wire Feb 23,1995,
Miami Beach Broadwater, Lisa,”Trash With A Higher Calling” , Dallas Morning News, May19,1994 Section C, pg.
1,2,4 McCormick, David,” Artist As Recycler”, Texas Monthly, May 19, 1994, pg.22
Tyson, Janet, “Discovering The Potential Of Found Objects”, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, May 29, 1994, Section F, pg.1,4 
Tharp, Robert,” Everything Old Is New Again Arlington Museum Show”, Fort Worth Star- Telegram, Weekend Guide, May 19,1994
Garrison, Renee, Tampa Tribute, March 24,1994 pg.1 Monson, Carolyn, ”Artist Turns Pieces Of Life Into Treasure Trove Of Jewelry”, Salt Lake Tribune, November 22,1992, pg. F12
Oland, Gloria,” Fashion-Art”, L.A. Weekly, June,1987, pg.36  Cover, Centerfold, Penthouse Magazine, November,1986
McKenna, Kristine,”The Galleries”, The Los Angeles Times,April 26,1985 McPhee, Sondra, “Departures From Function”, Artweek, December 1,1984, pg.5
Epstein, Benjamin, “Artists Creation To Benefit Museum”,Los Angeles Times, October 15,1984 Bellon, Linda,” A Step Further”, Artweek”, September 22,1984, pg.13
Moore, Scott,” Just Throwing Paint Around : Portrait of an Artist”,This Week In Laguna, March 28,1984, pg. 7,8
Sarri, Laura,” A Box By Any Other Name Could Be Well,er, Art”, The Orange County Register, November 17,1983, pg. D,11
Lugo, Mark- Elliot,” A Taste Of Cities Artistry”, Cincinnati Post, July 10,1981, pg.10 Foreman, B.J.,”
C.A.G.E. Unlocks Cincinnati Inhibitions”, Cincinnati Post, August 6,1981
Findsen, Owen,” Parallels Abound”, Cincinnati Enquirer, April 27,1980, pg. F7 M a r t i n  L .  B e r n s t e i n     2 0 14

The Net of Indra

There is an ancient Indian myth
that portrays the universe as an infinite net.
A Universe made up of an infinite number jewels.
It is at each junction of the net a jewel is placed,
and each jewel reflects infinitely each and every other jewel of the net;
and the jewels themselves are of the purest quality
and are the most highly polished
so that each jewel reflects each and every infinite reflection
of each and every other jewel’s reflection
and in so the reflection of the particular jewel itself,
infinitely.

Artist Statement

  The inclusion of objects from everyday life in my work act as a familiar, a door through which one may enter the psyche of the work. Yet, these familiars are manipulated and changed to such an extent that one must rethink these objects’ original purposes and functions.

At this point it is one’s perception that becomes the issue.  All things, all perceptions change because we are perceiving these things through the prism of our own unique experiences.  What this individual perception provides is the context, the depth beneath the surfaces we view; hidden histories unseen, but always present and always effecting everything we view.  It is the layering of textures upon textures, objects upon objects that link the painted works and the assembled pieces. Whether it is the pirate’s treasure hidden from view by 20,000 leagues of water, or ancient scrolls buried by the sands of time, something is always there to be discovered. And in truth, it is this act of discovery that is of the utmost importance. Although this effort is seemingly placed upon exterior objects, in actuality they are only devices for the uncovering of oneself.”

 

Jewelry Statement

I make every single piece one at a time by myself.  I don’t design something on paper and hand it off to assistants to to make.  Actually I don’t design anything.  I just start with the materials, some chains maybe a pearl and start linking the chains together one at a time.  Maybe I start surrounding the pearl or gemstone with the chains… Maybe netting Tahitian Pearls or South Sea Pearls, naturally colored by nature itself or other Gemstones, precious and semi-precious, Diamonds, Emeralds, Opals, Tourmaline  Tanzanite…  and many many other types of gems and catch them up within the web of chains much like  a spider snares it’s prey in it’s web.

 

 

Because of my process the spontaneity of the creation comes through in the finished piece.  The individuality of them is very apparent.  Before I start sometimes I have a vague idea in my mind as to what I want to make but as I get working on them they surprise me as the road of creation winds and turns with my instant responses to each and every action in forming the pieces.  I want each and every single piece to be able to stand alone as a true one of a kind work of art.  It’s as though they come out of somewhere within me before I can think about what it is I want to do.  It’s a kind of stream of consciousness takes over me and I just need to let my fingers do whatever they seem to be doing.  I believe that these feelings come from somewhere deep within the soul even before a thought about it can be formulated about what it is I am doing.  I trust my actions and at times feel as though these items are working themselves as they would like and are just using me and my hands as a vehicles to accomplish what is needed.

 

At the same time each piece has to be an easy and comfortable wear.  There are no two ever exactly alike.  Even the earrings are matched but not clones of each other.  Both sides of our bodies, our faces are different and in the case of the earrings one worn on the right side and then switched to the left side will be different, maybe subtly in some cases maybe more obviously different in others.  Most of the necklaces if put on one way and then reversed will have a similarly different look and feel from each side.  A woman might put an outfit on one day and love it but another day might not think it looks good at all.  I embrace that variation.  It is life.

Every piece I make is a mixture of the finest and most delicate 14K Rose, Yellow, and White Gold chains available.  My use of all the gold colors woven together to allow me to create a patina that subtles the look evoking the old and the new together bouncing the eye and perception instead of just a bright singularly yellow gold chain.  In many of the pieces I add a few Sterling Silver chains to add contrast. I do this to enhance the whites of the high bright white gold with the raw white gold I use. This give the pieces three variations of the white colors in conjunction with the rose and the yellow gold.  Also as the pieces age the silver with tarnish and darken in the inner parts of the links that will bring a depth to the piece much like underpainting adds depth to a painting.

The natural world around us is a major influence for me.  I combine this with the effects and influences upon us and the echoing this has as a way to further show our inner nature, light, outwardly.  The things we wear can be a tell as to who we truly are and who we want to present.  The jewelry we wear can be an outer signal of that inner light, that hidden treasure which exists within us all.   One analogy relating to this when I am working is that moment after a sunken treasure has been found at the bottom of the sea and the treasure is being raised to the surface. It is the very moment the treasure breaks the water that I am trying to capture.  The water is streaming back into the ocean.  The sun is glinting off the jewels and shimmering as the wind catches water droplets and wisps them into the air.

As we allow our true inner beauty to be outwardly presented it becomes a statement as to who we are through through.  This unique beauty wells up from deep within our soul and helps declare our individuality.  In many cases we don’t have enough things that can actually reflect this enough.  But I believe my work is one of these tools that can be a mirror of this true inner nature.

Simultaneously I am trying to capture the movements of the body and hair as we move through life.

To this end I use a lot of fringy dangling chains to evoke this effect.  Which I believe also adds feel to the pieces.  They feel exceptionally soft and comfortable against the skin.

For the most part if something is worn it should feel good to wear.  I see all that jewelry out there and almost to the piece they are just geometric objects that lay on the skin much like a painting on a wall or an object on a pedestal.  The body is different.  We move through the world.  We are not a stationary object.  We like the feelings of touch.  One chooses clothing that feels good against our skin, silks, cashmeres, etc.

In my jewelry I use these most delicate chains to deliver that gently tickling brush against the skin.  They are not just a piece of shiny metal stuck to the body.  They move as one moves.  They dance as one moves. The feel of jewelry should be one of the most integral parts of jewelry and not just the look of it.

Martin Bernstein      7/6/16

 

Jewelry Statement

Every piece I make is truly a one-of-a kind item. I personally and solely produce each piece. I use precious, and semi-precious stones such as Diamonds, Rubies, Emeralds, Sapphires, Aquamarines, Beryls, Black Opals, Tourmalines, Tahitian and South Sea Pearls along with many other types of gemstone. Then I ensnare the gemstones and Pearls in a delicately woven array of multi-colored strands of wispily fringed, dangling, and seemingly tangled chains netting the precious items within a web of tiniest gauged 14kt Gold chains in yellow, and white, and rose with sterling silver, palladium chains.

 

The most basic need to be fulfilled when one builds a house is to protect and comfort one’s self and family from the elements.  But in many cases the house itself takes on too much importance of it’s own and it’s basic purpose for which it was conceived in the first place is lost and forgotten.  The showmanship of the house and property becomes the important element.  Children aren’t allowed in certain rooms or on particular pieces of furniture, and the grass and flowers are fumigated making them look beautiful but useless and dangerous.

The house in this scenario is analogous to religion.  Being that the original purpose to the invention of religion was to have a safe and quite place for people to be able to contemplate the spirit. As to it’s basic purpose to which I am referring is a safe and secure virtual place which is inside oneself that facilitates the contemplation of spirit.  Once experienced this meditative moment in all it’s profundity is humbling not engorging.  Yet in all too many cases this virtual place is sublimated, misunderstood and replaced by physically real “houses of religion” and their overriding institutions.  All too often these institutions preen an overriding importance as to being the necessary ingredient in the quest for this goal of being in contact with our truer natures.  To these ends the architecture in these “houses of religion and their artifacts” which had been created initially to facilitate the reflective and meditative processes has become misguided.   The physical houses and institutions through the guise of enhancing the feelings of exultation and awareness of the spirit have built themselves up with overblown and undue importance.  To this point, men over the ages have been drawn to the use of soaring phallic architecture ever heaving upward toward some sky-God with gilded ceilings beckoning with the ostentatious usage of the of gold and gems and marbles manipulating their perceived values as to proof to these feelings of importance.

The Jeweled Cross

The cross is a representation of the body of Christ.  Crucifixion as symbol to the transformation from a pain-filled, terrorizing death into a virtual inner sanctum of peace and true all-knowing being/non-being, floating upward between earth and a skyward ascension.  As a symbol it is both physical and transforming.  But underlying these beliefs, they are concepts; and being a concept the physical cross in and of itself should have little importance as to it’s earthly material.
Spirit that exists and emanates within all and encompasses all is accessible to all, everywhere at all times. It is in our nature.  It is in our being. We are spirit at our core.  Metaphorically people refer to the “The light from within” as an acceptance of this theroy.  That concept, those words are as symbolic to the concept, realization or revelation of the spirit as a 3-Dimensional material symbol such as a cross or a church.

My cross is a manifestation of this concept of the material as illusionary.  I use the the precious and semi-precious gems to represent the spirit.  Sapphires, Moonstones, Tourmalines, Rubies, Emeralds, Coral… and others because they are prized for their properties of clarity and purity. This is the beauty of the gemstone.  Much of their valued qualities, their preciousness and importance, are derived from their reflective natures of the light and color which emanates from within the physical bodies of the gemstones themselves.   And, as our physical bodies house the spirit so the chains in this case try to contain the body of the cross.  But the chains that try to confine the “body” bind and contain the effervescent stones can not. The power of the spirit breaks the ties and oozes out, bubbling between and breaking through the chains of control.  It does not matter how fine or valuable the golden chains are, or how perfect the wrapping, i.e. it’s architecture; the spirit can’t be contained.  The light escapes the control effortlessly.

Martin L. Bernstein  8/20/2009

 

                                 Jewelry Statement

My work on the jewelry and jeweled objects began in the late 70’s.  I started by taking apart antique and collectable jewelry from back as far as the edwardian and victorian eras up through the nouveau and deco periods into 40’s and 50’s. I chose pieces that were distressed from use, overuse and abuse.  I valued these imperfections as scares of endearment. Then I rethought them reworking them using their elements as tarnished parts of new assemblaged pieces.  I saw the appearance of being broken, tangled, forgotten, or uncared for like a lost treasure found and rediscovered the newly appreciated and conserved as works of art that carry a new weight of information about there intrinsic preciousness.

They were made of bronzes and brass, copper and gold, gold filled and silvers. They evoked a life of use with a new possibility yet to be realized.  In time I started to work from scratch with raw and cut gemstones and the finest gauges of chains I could find.  I discovered that with the use of different colors of gold, the rose, white, yellow and green golds mixed together with the silvers and palladium…etc… I could emulate the various patina’s in the antique parts I was using previously but with a renewed freedom since I was starting from scratch.
Jewelry is the adornment that we use to dress ourselves up with and or our loved ones in order to express the exalted feelings and emotions that we feel toward ourselves and our loved ones.

Martin L. Bernstein    8/22/2009

                         Making Jewelry as an Artist

I am an Artist. I am not a designer. I am not designing anything with the thought of an outcome. If I were to make a design for something and then I followed that blueprint to complete a piece of jewelry then the design would actually be the conception of a work of art and the completed product would just be an assemblage of a draftsman following instructions. By making each piece directly, thought and hand tied together, then the spontaneity of the creative process is evident and lives within every piece of work I make. My finished pieces are not just another gold medallion manufactured as a declaration of financial prowess or accessory awareness.   By reaching so deeply inside myself with every single piece in order to dredge up an answer to some perspicacious feeling I am sensing at the moment, and if I am successful, then that experience is being inlayed into every single piece of jewelry, or object, or paintings, or whatever… I am creating at that moment.  That is Art.  The role of the artist is to be aware of that experience and to be able to translate that encapsulation of the volume of information that lay within that and every experience. It is done through the mediums of choice in order to be able to best fulfill the need within to express throughout.  Each artist has their own language.   To some it may be familiar, or their own, and some will learn it, and still some who to it will remain foreign.

To the uninitiated the artifact may just be beautiful.  That in and of itself is sufficient. There is no boundary to the buoyancy of beauty. But maybe like a charm that is aesthetically pleasing in and of itself, it may also have been implanted with a secret message only to await discovery. There always is much more that lies beyond the apparent.

Martin Bernstein
9.24.11

“Art Is a Way of Life”:   An Interview with Martin Bernstein

Posted by Jenny Lam on Nov 14, 2011   A Sixty inches from Center Project

Martin Bernstein’s studio. Entry to “the paint room.” November 2011
Martin Bernstein’s studio is probably one of the best artist studios you will ever visit in your entire life. At least, any artist studio that elicits the seemingly universal reaction of “Whoa. It’s like Pirates of the Caribbean in here…” deserves accolades. To describe the space as drenched with drips of paint would be an understatement—it’s more like a deluge. And it’s not just paint. Layer upon layer, texture upon texture, heavy fabric hangs as if weighed down by age and memory, and tendrils of beads and cords and lights all intertwine and meander, vine-like, throughout the room as if left to their own devices for centuries. This is where Martin works and lives. People have always told him that he lives in a dream world. His response? Rather than meeting such criticism with resignation, he found a way to bring his world into the one everyone else obeys. “Instead of adapting myself to reality,” said Martin, “I adapt reality to me.”

Martin grew up in Cincinnati and went to college in Michigan, and, because the art scenes there were practically nonexistent, he would have to travel in order to see an art show, and he has been traveling ever since. He spent most of his adult career in California; ended up living in Florida for 12 years to tend to his father, who had fallen ill; and, following his father’s death, packed up and lived the next 4 years without an address before settling down in Chicago.

On a sunny November afternoon, I sat with Martin and we chatted about how he hasn’t been on a plane—and thus hasn’t left the lower 48—in 16 years because of his dog Astro, how we’re all connected, how art is a consciousness, how great art doesn’t give you all the answers, how you must look inside yourself to define who you are, and how, really, there’s no such thing as reality. “Whoa” indeed.

Martin’s studio is located on the 3rd floor of the Zhou B Art Center in Chicago. It may or may not be open at this week’s 3rd Friday event.

Martin does, however, have an upcoming jewelry show in San Francisco at Wilkes Bashford (375 Sutter St., San Francisco, CA 94108, 415.986.4380) on December 1st and 2nd.

Jenny Lam: Have you been doing this kind of work before you came here, or did being in this space inform that kind of practice?

Martin Bernstein: Everybody who’s seen my different studios, and I see, it’s the same. I didn’t understand it as much as I do now—the spatial character of it—but it’s evolved, and it’s gotten tighter, or better, just like when you get more skilled at something or understand it better. But my early work looks like it does now. I looked around or had these environments, where there weren’t any sort of inhabitants, and that’s when I started to do clothes and jewelry and things to create creatures, and at first it was the last reality. It was always about “more.” I wasn’t like an artist like, “Oh I need to make a living, so I’ll make jewelry on the side, and then I’ll just do my art.” It grew out of a need to say something in an entire context of what I was doing. The trip opened up where I wasn’t just going to galleries or museums or art centers; I was going to jewelry stores or clothing stores, and so my sort of thinking of the way things are done is you find what you need to do and what you had, for your soul, kind of thing, what you are, and then you figure out how to make that work, like follow that, fit that. You’ve got to find out who you are, and follow that.

JL: Could you describe the process that goes into your work / describe your work in general?

MB: When I first moved here, they were still working on the building and there was dust everywhere. It didn’t matter if my work was going to get dusty, because to me, dust is time anyway. Even on the paintings, with this gold and platinum and silver mica that I use, it’s about time, and as opposed to dust settling, it’s valuable, so it gives you the illusion of gold and silver and valuable time. I think of [my work] as a stream of consciousness, especially what I have this space where I can put it together in physical form, is the lamps grow out of this tree, and you can say that’s a fruit but it’s a light, there’s like an object on the wall and there’s like these connective cords, and to me, everything’s connected. We’re all connected. We have our physical self here, but I think there’s an invisible connection to all life and all things universal. As your call to me, that you wanted to do this because you had seen this and sort of “Oh, this interests me” and those are sort of invisible connections and our thoughts, like words don’t go from here to here, but it does, and I think everything is like this. So I treat things as an individual element that can be finished, but I also want to see how it all… Early on in my career, I had work coming out of me that looked like I was schizophrenic. I didn’t see the connection. And when I would go to galleries and museums they wouldn’t see it at all, and they wanted me to take something and do it and stick to it, that way I’d rather let my own organic timeframe find and that will happen, and I trust that will happen.

Now the valleys got filled in, and I see the connections, I see how it’s all the same hand, I see the treatment of the chains and all these drips are like connections and things coming apart and things growing out of the phoenix out of the ashes. I see that in the texture of the two-dimensional. At the same time, when I’m looking at the two-dimensional—or the so-called, since nothing I do is really flat—I see this is just stepping into it and I see these lines as line, or color, like a color of gray or black or red streaking across the blue screen or something. I had a teacher who I hated in college, because she would take my paintings, and she’d twist them, and just say “Just hit it! Throw paint at it!” And what she was trying to do was get my focus to stop controlling, and it was like allow your real self to just let go.

When I’m painting, or when I’m doing anything, if I’m in the right place, it has that stream of consciousness, just sort of trusting your… not thinking what you’re going to say, but trusting that you know enough that when you say it, that it’ll come out and make some sort of sense. Like when we’re younger, you have to think of the words to describe what you’re saying, like when you’re really little, how to use a fork or something, and now you just sit and eat. You don’t think about each move, and you get to that and that’s where I believe it’s happening and I sort of accept it all, and I think, if anything, it’s telling me art is a consciousness; it’s not just a physical painting or a two-dimensional thing or writing—it’s a way of life. It’s a way of looking at every single nanosecond of every day.

JL: Because your work has so many different layers and textures, how do you know when a piece is finished?

MB: I think that’s true of everybody. A lot of times I think something’s finished and I go at it again at some point, I like to have my things in front of me, so there’s that dialogue back and forth with them, like maybe see a little spot that nobody else will see, or just doesn’t say the right thing for me. There are these ebbs and flows. And I come back after being away for four months and I just can’t wait to paint.

Daily, I’m pulling things out, putting things in, and, at this point, I’m not really looking to finish anything; I’ll pull it out and go through it, but then I go away, and so then I have all this space, and I come back and I see it with new eyes, and, like I said, I’m seeing things that I’ve gone back after years of thinking they’re finished. As an artist, you end up moving a lot; they rent your building and then they sell it to some lawyers and you have to move, and I used to have this old geometric work, and I had it all covered and protected and I’d drag it around and wherever I’d have to move I’d have to find a thousand square feet of storage before I could even think of living. And I realized that I was taking more care with work from an earlier time than, you know, it’s about now.

So I actually started to take finished pieces and use them as canvases. One, you don’t have to buy a new canvas and stretchers and all that stuff. The other thing is what was sort of underneath was me; you are who you are five days ago, five years ago, and we build on that, so I do paintings that were built on previous paintings. I’m really not making it to have a finished painting. Again, I say you have to make a living, but you’re doing it for that joy and effort and that thing you do to paint, so the fact that you take a finished piece and use it as a canvas, that’s OK with me. And then out of that, I don’t really know how the installations grew, because I really didn’t understand installation. And then I realized it’s about just being an artist, doing work, whether somebody else understands a painting as can be a baseball or a square or just a fragment of things.

To me the fragmented elements of my work are like an archaeologist. Actually a lot of my work, I feel, is like an archaeologist and I’m digging up and I’m finding remnants; I’m looking to tell me a tale of me. But it’s like when we find things, say from the Egyptian culture and you find a scribe had written something that had been buried and it’s broken up and you only get so many words, and you try to imagine, you know, to me, great art isn’t something that gives you all the answers; it’s a starting point for you to then question. That’s why you take a urinal, you put it upside-down, you put it in a gallery, at a certain time, people go, “Whoa!” and it makes you think. You’re always learning. You always have to push towards something you don’t know. If you know you’re really good at something, it’s easy just to keep doing it. So the fact that I find something out there that has some interesting texture or some other reason I might not know, I just throw it in, and a lot of it gets stuck up to other things and it becomes textural, and the actual meaning of the thing may be lost. It never seemed important to me, like trompe l’oeil, to paint something, like I’m talking to you, and if I paint a picture of you sitting there, to me, that brings nothing across other than you’re sitting there. Now, I can put emotion and all that stuff with the way I present it, but it’s just taking an element from a moment, or a thing. I took a napkin, you know like we take souvenirs, in a way, and they become talismans in a way within the work, that’s sort of what I’m trying to do is talk about the real experience, not just people sitting here. It’s more about how that makes you feel and what that does to you on a subliminal, on an emotional, on an intellectual, all those levels that aren’t, the appearance of reality is not all there is. [laughter]

JL: How do you choose which everyday objects to include? Do you look for anything in particular?

MB: I never know. It’s the same thing with knowing when something’s finished. Some things just have, like the baseballs, he [Astro] just started bringing them back, and I relate to baseball and all that, and we’d go to the parks and bring them back and I saw them as canvases, and I also saw them as our life and where we are and all that, so they became an element. A lot of stuff that I use or that I bought, sometimes it’s secondhand with stains and stuff. In the beginning I’d buy secondhand suitcases, and I’d hate looking at them, so I started putting a patina on them, but then that grew. That really was a starting place. It was more about leaving your fingerprints on stuff, declaring, “I’ve been there. I’ve slept there. I did this.”

So it’s taking things from my mother, and people have a hard time with that, that I’ll put something that meant something to me in an object and then sell it. To me, it’s an homage; it’s not like, “Oh I have to hold on to this,” and then some things might be you’re attached to something. When you’re a kid and you don’t want to give up those sneakers, and they’re all torn and smelly and your mother just throws them out, you wanted them, even though they didn’t work anymore, but they functioned as something better, as a history, as that connection. I want to touch on that in everything I can possibly do, every way. Just because I say at some point I think something’s finished or doesn’t mean it’s right. And actually there’s a lot of stuff that now has come out, like that fret work and all that. […] Again, it goes back to trusting when you don’t really know. You just feel it’s the right direction to go in.

JL: It’s great that you mentioned personal histories and memories. I’m sure you get this a lot too, but a lot of people who have visited your studio—and I also feel this way—say that it reminds them of a sunken pirate ship, or they’re opening up a treasure chest and find all these old artifacts. Because you also live here, how do you feel about such a direct audience interaction? How do you feel about people coming into your own world, opening up these personal treasures? It’s not just your studio.

MB: I hate it, in a way. The fact that it’s also personal. It used to be, where I’d just open up either that room, and then I’d just have a section there. At first I opened up the whole place, but then I realized I wasn’t happy about that, so I kept trying to control it. But then I had to control my expression in the physical space, and it was more like I had a couple galleries attached, so I let that go and I let them in. But it’s hard to let people into your personal… I don’t mind with the artwork. I’m not hiding anything, I couldn’t care less, I’ll talk about anything, it’s who I am, but it’s just weird people coming in to… [laughter]

JL: Yeah. It’s a dilemma because this is such an amazing space and you want people to see it, but it’s also…

MB: I do. It’d be nice if… If I were successful… Before I get into that, the pirate thing. Within us all, we have this treasure. Written about it, they talk about the light within, Ali Baba’s treasure, it’s all about the hidden treasure. The pirates’ treasure, like under the sea, it’s there, you don’t know it’s there, or you know it’s there but you can’t get to it, so it’s like dredging up that that sparkles and the light which is you and not just the physical tool we walk around with. It’s what that is housing and all that we are, and so I think when you find a treasure and you raise it from under the sea, when it breaks the surface and all the gold, the chains, and the gems, the lights hitting them and the sun is glinting and the water’s rushing and there’s seaweed hanging, and you have air and light and water and earth, that’s the moment of [snaps his fingers] I got it moment, where you know you’re in the right place. It’s that moment of rapture; you’re in the zone. I think that represents it. […] There’s a connection that goes beyond just the physical. That’s what I’m trying to break apart, to figure out what exists underneath, what makes all that.

People coming in, at one point, I think, if you feel comfortable enough, it’s like you get to be really who you are. Then I think you can walk out naked. And that’s kind of like the opening it up; I’m bearing myself here. And I’ve realized that people can come into my personal space, and they don’t get it or they get it, and if they get it, then I want them in it, and if they don’t, it’s just too much information for them. Years ago, I used to sell—well I still do—but years ago in California I’d sell these paintings to designers. And I had a lot of designers say, “I just want a gold thing on the wall. There’s too much stuff going on.” I wasn’t right for them. I put something in front of them; they didn’t get it. OK, I’m not going to make them a piece of wallpaper. But then you put it in front of somebody else and they go, “I get that.” So some of the galleries that had a criticism, “Your work’s too pretty.” Well I don’t, you know, most people, you get to a point of angst or tragedy and you’re forced to figure out why you’re at a dead end. […] I think we can do that if we pay attention at every stage. It doesn’t have to be a tragedy; it can be something that feels really good, and you follow that link, as opposed to the link where you can’t do anymore and you have to find a new direction. And so I think you can pull out from your core through joy as easily as you can through angst, but most artists and galleries you go to, a lot of times, something off-putting is given more resonance, in a way, and they write about it as how important it is. I think that something can have that talking about any aspect of life, and that’s why the littlest things to me mean as much as the biggest things. […] That’s why when I go in there and I start picking out finished pieces, it doesn’t matter the shape, the size, the context.

JL: What or who are your main influences, whether those are other artists or just other aspects of life?

MB: It’s never other artists. In fact, I didn’t even read an art magazine for years. I just figured you have to find your own way. But every day, influences are just walking around, and seeing things, and textures, and architecture, and panoramas, and driving. I see a lot of landscape because I drive everywhere, and I don’t really stop and get out and look at something; I see it moving through, so one landscape kind of leads to another and leads to another, and, again, how that fits with me is that it’s not putting too much importance on an individual element. I remember when I first started doing objects, in California, objects by assembling different parts, there was somebody out there doing furniture or something, and they kept saying, “Oh you have to see their work,” and I think they were chairs, but all the elements were finished elements, and they’re glued on, and they’re all next to each other, and it was folk art-y in a way, but it had no relationship to me, because what I’m trying to talk about is an organic process where one element bleeds to another and bleeds to another, and that’s where the chains came about, to talk about one thing leading to another thing leading to another thing, like waterfalls. But even before that, it was like one element I made, and especially because I’d buy better and better elements, you don’t want to cover them up. Now it’s just part of the entire basis.

JL: How long do you usually travel for? You said that you’re normally not here during the winter.

MB: It’s worked out like that. The first winter really taught me about cold. It was colder inside than it was out. So now I know to head out, but what really happened is I got into the jewelry business, and there are these two big gem shows. I have a show the 2nd of December in San Francisco, and then I have the show in Tucson the very last few days of January, so I could come back and then go back out, but for the most part I tend to stay out West, say until that show’s over, and then I’ll head East, and once I come back I don’t just run out again. I always think I am but I don’t, so I really try to take the entire country, go down to Florida and then around to New York, and then come back. And that takes about 4 months to do that. Now, again, the older he’s [Astro] gotten, the harder it is to go on walks in the winter and that whole thing, so I think about that too. So I’d come back, but if there’s no reason to come back, I’m going to keep scouting out for trying to find outlets. […] Like the inspirations, the things that happen along the trip, when I’m here I have no separation from it. When I’m on the road, I’m sort of meditating. So I do utilize that, but I need that time to… Even when people say, “Oh let’s go out,” I don’t go out. I sit here and I kind of, even if I don’t feel like actually working, producing something, or it’s just not coming, I put myself in a position to be ready; I turn the glue guns on, or the lights, or whatever I’m using, and if I’m not here, then I have no possibility of it turning on, but as long as, so that’s what I try to do.

JL: Being on the road for so long, other than it being a meditative process, does all of that traveling have a direct effect on your creative process and on your work?

MB: It’s limiting on what you can do. When I didn’t have a home and I got a commission to do a painting, I’d have to rent a space or somebody’s garage or something, depending on where I was. I can do the jewelry or small objects on the road, but you take it into a hotel or motel or somebody’s house […] but at some point you have to pack everything up and get it out […] whereas here I just leave it. There’s a consciousness that bleeds from day to day to day. When you’re on the road, you clean it up and you come in with new eyes the next day. I’ll clean it up at night, even […] so I’ve gotten this “OK start and stop, start and stop,” where it’s very different than here.

But I think the road taught me: open your eyes right now, because what you are seeing or doing or thinking is gone, and now there’s a new “right now,” and that’s gone, and now there’s a new “right now,” and you keep moving through… Well that’s life. And it’s right now. It was an emphasis on that kind of thinking, which fits with my personality and my whole sort of Zen thing of life. […]

I think that principle is all you’ve got in the end, and so you really have to find the basic code of how you want to live, and all your work and all the things you say and do should fit that perfectly. The breaking apart of things, like you’re going through life and you’re going through all these pitfalls and it stabs you or cuts you or breaks you, especially as an artist and they are constantly telling you no, just that’s life, and to me that’s a part of growing up. We look outside of ourselves to define ourselves when we [are young]. It’s kind of a parabolic curve of life to me, and somewhere in the middle when we get to our 30s, we start to go, “Wait a minute. It’s not them. It’s me.” You start to realize that you sort of colored in the all the surrounding areas, and now it’s time to fill in this figure that’s sort of the shadow. You start to fill it in.

And I think that’s what I do. The fact that things they appear to be finished and polished I’d tear them apart or rip them open or accept that they go torn in travels, and do I throw it out, or do I take that tear and make that a statement within this piece. So to me, it’s part of accepting how life presents itself, and I have very little control over it. I can put myself in a direction and in a state of mind, but what comes to us is this thing out here. I don’t think it would come to us if there weren’t unlimited possibilities to learn from it, and to figure out why it’s in our perception.

JL: What are some other things we can look forward to from you?

MB: In the Spring I’ll be back. The jewelry is at Elements here in Chicago. They [the Zhou B Art Center] can open up that room [the outer room] but I won’t let them open up this room because it’s all my personal stuff. […] As a kid, I wanted to be an artist. I never conceived of it as a living, and people told me I lived a dream world, that I had to get a job. I went to school and I chose the school that I chose for industrial design. My brother was in industrial design so I said, “OK, I can make a living.” I hated it. Now in hindsight I’m glad because that taught me control. […] I would love for [the readers] to contact the website. From L.A. to New York, if I had to be there in four days, I’d be there in four days. It’s like, OK, if somebody wants to see me, and it seems important, I can be there in a couple days, unless I’ve got something going on. […] I’m actually trying to—all of the years I’m on the road, finding things and the collection of stuff that gets in to be painted or rethought in objects—I’m trying to dwindle by using it up, and I’m actually making headway.

So I just trust that I’m on the right path, that I’m doing the right thing at the right time, and if I don’t feel that, I’m willing to turn around on a dime. […] For somebody who doesn’t have a lot of things lined up, to be able to make a living at this, I am so, so stoked about it. It really is a very fortunate thing. It’s not where I’d like it to be… yet. I’m not there yet, but I accept where I’m at, and love it, appreciate it. […] I trust that every move has the absolute purposefulness of that move. Somehow, out of all of this, something will happen.