“ITERATIONS” EXHIBITION OPENS AT BINGHAM GALLERY

Location: Fine Arts Building, Room A125. 505 Hitt Street, Columbia, MO 65211
Dates: August 27 – September 20, 2018
Reception/Curator Talk: Thursday, August 30, 4:30-6:30pm

Iterations: Selected Works by Professor Emeritus Jerry Berneche (1932-2016) is a small window into the vast expanse of Jerry Berneche’s lifetime of drawings, paintings, and prints. Berneche has several themes that recur throughout his oeuvre, including aging & youth, expressionistic line work, magnificent plants & patterns, strange beasts, longing, religion, politics, historical events, and more.  He questioned American cultural iconography and political landscapes with skill and humor, leading viewers through sometimes very surreal worlds. Though his representations are to some extent abstracted, he deftly manifested familiar characters and scenes that are simultaneously lovely and uncomfortable.

Of his own work, Berneche was quoted as saying, “If I had to classify myself, I would call my work Romantic with overtones of [S]urrealism…I tend to think that the purpose of my work is to give the viewer a good feeling.”  In Image and Word: A Missouri Mosaic, he says, “In my work I have a very strong feeling for nature. My inspiration, energy, and motivation are derived from close contact with life. I am a humanist or perhaps, a romantic humanist.”

Jerry Berneche was a Professor of Art at the University of Missouri from 1966-2008, and passed away in 2016. He earned his BFA from the John Herron Art School and his MFA from Ohio University. Starting in the early 2000s, Berneche facilitated multiple Study Abroad trips to Florence, Italy—the influence of those journeys can be seen in much of the exhibited work.  

For more information, contact Catherine Armbrust at George Caleb Bingham Gallery
via phone (816) 718-3742 or email (ArmbrustC@missouri.edu).

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