Rita Bernstein: Out of Place

Please join us Saturday, June 2, from 6 – 8 p.m. for the opening of Rita Bernstein: Out of Place. The exhibition will run through Saturday, September 1, 2012. The artist will be in attendance for the opening reception.

Journey: mixed media (photograph on handmade paper with beeswax and oil paint) 9 x 9 inches, Ed. of 5

 

Rita Bernstein began photographing after working nearly two decades as a civil rights lawyer, eschewing her legal career in favor of time with her two children. As such, her work explores the sorrows and sweetness of family life and, more generally, the ambivalence that shadows intimate relationships. Though her subjects tend to be younger individuals, Bernstein’s intent is not specifically to examine childhood. Rather, it is the uninhibited behavior of children that reveals, in a broader sense, the complexities of the human psyche.

Charmaine: hand applied silver emulsion on Japanese gampi, 10 x 11.5 inches, Ed. of 15

 

As a self-professed “reluctant traveler,” Bernstein shoots most of her photographs close to her Philadelphia home or near her family’s summer cottage in the northern stretches of Pennsylvania. In difference to staged photography she chooses to work intuitively, discovering rather than orchestrating her compositions. While some of her subjects are strangers, she prefers shooting those whom she knows well, resulting in works of increased intimacy, honesty and subtlety.

Lake Swim (hand applied silver emulsion on Japanese gampi, 10 x 10 inches, Ed of 15)

 

Bernstein’s work has received notable international acclaim, having been featured in publications ranging from LensWork to B + W Magazine (UK) to The Philadelphia Inquirer. In addition to print features, her photographs can be found in collections at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Johnson and Johnson World Headquarters Corporate Collection, among others.

Still Lives: mixed media (photograph on handmade paper with beeswax and oil paint) 9 x 9 inches, Ed. of 5

 

For the complete catalogue of Out of Place, please visit our exhibition page here.