Roberto Bernardi

Born in 1974 in Todi, Italy, lives and works in Todi, Italy.

Bernardi begins to paint at a very young age; his first oil paintings date back to the first half of the eighties. His obsession with detail and learning traditional painting techniques influences his artistic formation. He graduates from high school in 1993 and moves to Rome where he begins to work as a restorer at the Church of San Francesco a Ripa. He shifts away from restoration to devote himself full-time to the creation of his own works of art. Initially, he paints landscapes and portraits, but soon Bernardi moves towards a new form of realism closely related to hyperrealism.

In September 1994, Bernardi has his first solo exhibition, gaining the recognition of both the public and the local critics. Since then Bernardi has had over 15 solo exhibitions worldwide between New York, London, Paris, Detroit and Singapore. His works have been included in 25 exhibitions in international museums and over 100 group shows in many worldwide art galleries.

In 1999, Bernardi meets his partner Raphaella Spence, also an artist, with whom he occasionally produces large-scale paintings depicting mainly social scenes such as crowds of football fans, executed with incredible skill and attention to detail.

The turning point in his artistic style occurs in the early 2000s with increasingly frequent trips to New York. In 2004, Bernardi moves to Manhattan for a short period and works in a studio on 73rd street. During this period his works are strongly influenced by the American culture. His gallery introduces him to the New York art scene and market, where he meets many artists such as Richard Estes, Chuck Close, Tom Blackwell, with whom he often exhibits in group exhibitions in various international museums.

From 2004 to 2010 Bernardi participates in numerous artistic projects sponsored by American and European collectors along with other hyperrealist artists, such as “Zurich project” and “Hamburg project” (2007); “Las Vegas project” and the “Montecarlo project” (2008) during the Formula One Grand Prix; “Bejing project” where Bernardi is invited during the 2008 Olympic Games, along with Raphaella Spence, by the American politician Eliot Cutler who lived and worked in Beijing for several years.  After  two weeks of intense travel around China and meetings with many Chinese politicians and artists including Li Songsong, Cutler commissions Roberto Bernardi and Raphaella Spence to paint a series of works inspired by their Chinese experience. The following year, in 2009, these works are exhibited in a solo exhibition in New York entitled “Beijing project” at the Bernarducci.Meisel.Gallery.

In 2012, Bernardi takes part in an international museum tour that begins at the Kunsthalle Tübingen Museum in Germany and travels to 13 other museums around the world. This exhibition tour includes Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum (Spain), Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (England), New Orleans Museum of Art (U.S.A.), Oklahoma City Museum of Art (U.S.A.), De Bellas Artes De Bilbao Museum (Spain), Kunsthal Museum Rotterdam (Holland), Tampa Museum Of Art (U.S.A.), to name a few.

In 2010, the Italian multinational oil and gas company, ENI, adds Bernardi to the group of young artists from all over the world to interpret Eni’s communication and commissions Bernardi to add a work to their prestigious art collection.

In 2014, Bernardi is invited to the “Biennale of Contemporary Realism 2014” at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art (U.S.A.). Over the last decade Bernardi’s works has evolved; his hyperreal compositions are increasingly influenced by the Pop Art movement. In 2015, the Oxford University Press Editions includes one of his paintings in the publication “Sugar and Sweets” by D. Goldstein. This work represents lollipops of different colors placed vertically on a black background. In 2016, Bernardi’s work is also the MONA, Museum of Old And Modern Art, in Tasmania publication “On the Origin of Art”.