Along the Nerve: Works by Rita Bernstein

Artist and Visual Artist Fellowship alum, Rita Bernstein, presents Along the Nerve, a series of works on paper that represent fragments of thought, feeling, or sensation. They are provisional and ephemeral, the realization of a moment or the residue of a day. Reflecting the stream of her consciousness, some are analogous to a single word or utterance, and others -- often diptychs or triptychs -- resemble excerpts from a longer narrative. Bernstein works exclusively on paper which, like skin, is fragile and permeable. It yields readily to the touch, calling to mind the imperfections that accumulate with time and experience on the body and the psyche. 

About the Artist

Rita Bernstein was born in Brooklyn, New York, and following a career as a civil rights attorney, she has been a working artist in several genres for many years. She was most recently awarded a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. She has also received a B.A. in English, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Barnard College of Columbia University; a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School; and an MFA from PAFA.

Her work is represented by KlompChing Gallery (Brooklyn) and Catherine Couturier Gallery (Houston). Her pictures are in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; the University of Michigan Museum of Art; and the Woodmere Art Museum. Her work has been widely exhibited, including at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Griffin Museum; the Noyes Museum of Art; Fleisher Art Memorial; the University of Pennsylvania; Moore College of Art and Design; and the University of the Arts.

Bernstein was selected for the prestigious Fleisher Art Memorial Challenge Exhibition and has also been the recipient of fellowships and grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts; the Independence Foundation; the Leeway Foundation; and the Ruttenberg Arts Foundation. Her exhibitions have been reviewed in many publications, including the New York Times; the Photo Review; the Boston Globe; the Philadelphia Inquirer; Black and White Magazine; and Lenswork, among others.

Rita Bernstein currently lives and works in Philadelphia and New York.