Portfolio PDF 2010

“BERLIN, with innocence, has nailed the
robot gray future.
Disco Babbits
smile, giggle, sulk, tin-
kle and disappear into the (cocktail) crowd.
Berlin, 2001 soylent green, NEW YORK
CITY all-nighter Dawn Patrol. ahhh in the
cement wastelands of density & stress,
heart disease, cancer, aids, t e r r i t o r i a l
neuroses & separation of the
good luck
sexes -
celebration city.”
Peter Beard, From “Kevin Berlin: Sex & Drugs New York”
COVER: The Emperor’s New Clothes #2, oil on canvas, 228 x 242 cm, (90 x 95.5 in.), 2000.
Private collection, Miami
KEVIN BERLIN
PAINTINGS 2000-2010
KEVIN BERLIN
Kevin Berlin has come of age. He is an observer of our times, a unique personality
bordering on showmanship. Everything in Berlin’s painting is acting. After all— most
“In more than 30 years of operating a gallery I have rarely encountered an artist
as talented,multifaceted, and ambitious as Kevin Berlin....”
Douglas Heller, Heller Gallery, New York, New York
never tell the truth. His canvases are a testament to the vagaries of youth, the cocktail
set, the party crowd, the lechers and oglers of “Girls Gone Wild.”
His is a cynical eye, yet a kind of benevolent voyeur. He can record the secret motiva-
“In a place (New York) and at a time (the beginning of the third millenium) when
it seems that jadedness is compulsory and a healthy eroticism in art all but
tions of people with unexpected and provocative impulses of the brush. Ever recon-
impossible, we are lucky to have Kevin Berlin. Even in the most melancholy and sophisti-
structing his connection to erotic literature he is the first to admit that social chatter
cated of his works like ‘The Velvet Rope’ the partially clad or nude female form glows with
eventually subsides to a murmur. On canvas an impression of reality. Berlin’s world
freshness and the possibility of love. For Berlin’s version of the much villified ‘male gaze’ is
actualizes his playful yet serious ideas in black and white with a hint of color. Certain
works may emotionally effect us, while others may disturb, or even shock.
His methods work very well and this all becomes a joyous exploitation of the fashion
scene today. This is an aspect of art that fascinates—this is what I share with you today.
Roberta Von Schlossberg, RVS Fine Art, Southampton, New York
filled with a wonderful innocence, a simple joy in the way a shadow bends across the curve
of a girl’s gorgeous convex midriff. And for me his ‘bellybutton series’ or ‘the red dress’
with their exquisite headless torsos and proudly exposed pudenda are powerfully redolent
of long summer afternoons of lovemaking, here in the steamy, anonymous City, afternoons
spent not with any particular girl, but with all of them.”
Jonathan Foreman, Film Critic, New York Post
The Velvet Rope, oil on canvas, 228 x 242 cm, (90 x 95.5 in.), 2001
Private collection, Brussels, Belgium
The Emperor’s New Clothes, oil on canvas, 228 x 242 cm, (90 x 95.5 in.), 2000.
Private collection, New York
Costume Party, oil on canvas, 195.5 x 228 cm, (77 x 90 in.), 2005
Private collection, New York
Age Of Innocence, oil on canvas, 195.5 x 228 cm, (77 x 90 in.), 2005
Private collection, New York
Wishful Thinking, oil on canvas, 195.5 x 228 cm, (77 x 90 in.), 2005
Private collection, Southampton
Mr. Right, oil on canvas, 120.5 x 104 cm, (47.5 x 41 in.), 2006
Private collection, New York
Girls Gone Wild, oil on canvas, 120.5 x 104 cm, (47.5 x 41 in.), 2006
Private collection, New York
Snobs, oil on canvas, 120.5 x 104 cm, (47.5 x 41 in.), 2006
Private collection, Maryland
The Age of Innocence #2, oil on canvas, 120.5 x 104 cm, (47.5 x 41 in.), 2006
Private collection, New York
The Rivals, oil on canvas, 120.5 x 104 cm, (47.5 x 41 in.), 2006
The Emperor’s New Clothes #3, oil on canvas, 120.5 x 104 cm, (47.5 x 41 in.), 2006
Private collection, New York
The Kiss, oil on canvas, 120.5 x 104 cm, (47.5 x 41 in.), 2006
Private collection, Florence, Italy
Nude-tella, diptych, oil on two canvases, 104 x 216 cm, (41 x 85 in.), 2005
The Last Cigarette, oil on canvas, 120.5 x 104 cm, (47.5 x 41 in.), 2006
Private collection, Shanghai, China
Red, Red Wine, oil on canvas, 195.5 x 222 cm, (77 x 87.5 in.), 2008
Private collection, New York
The Emperor’s New Clothes #7, oil on canvas, 195.5 x 222 cm, (77 x 87.5 in.), 2008
Steamed Buns #2, diptych, oil on two canvases, 194 x 306 cm, (76.4 x 120.5 in.), 2009
East Meets West, diptych, oil on two canvases, 195 x 449 cm, (76.5 x 176.5 in.), 2009
Pomodori (Tomatoes) (detail), diptych, installation of 25 framed works, gouache on handcut paper, 25.5 x 20.5, (10 x 8 in. each), 2008
Various private collections
Naughty Nudes (detail), installation of 25 framed works, gouache on handcut paper, 25.5 x 20.5, (10 x 8 in. each), 2007 - 8
Various private collections
The Beauty Pageant, diptych, oil on two canvases, 195.5 x 363 cm, (77 x 143 in.), 2008
KEVIN BERLIN
Born: Rochester, New York, 1965.
U.S. Presidential Scholarship, Honored by President Reagan at The White House, Washington DC 1983.
Yale University, B.A., New Haven, Connecticut, 1987.
Slade School of Fine Art, London, United Kingdom, 1988.
Currently lives and works in Florence, Italy and Southampton, New York.
KEVIN BERLIN
Internationally renowned artist Kevin Berlin’s works are found in the collections of Kim Basinger, Luciano
Pavarotti, Buzz Aldrin, Henry Buhl, David Letterman, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Dudley and Lisa Anderson,
Quincy Jones, General Motors Corp. and Carnival Cruise Lines. Berlin, a Yale Alumnus, has appeared in
The New York Times Magazine, Shanghai Daily, The Miami Herald, USA Today, and CBS Sunday Morning
with Charles Osgood, MTV, Tokyo Television, and BBC Radio. Berlin was honored by President Reagan
at The White House as a YoungArts Presidential Scholar in 1983.
www.kevinberlin.com
Solo Exhibitions:
Selected Group Exhibitions:
Mark Miller Gallery, “Double Happiness,” New York, New York, 2010
Chelsea Art Museum, “Open Portfolio New York,” New York, NY, 2010
RVS Fine Art, “Kiev Days / Kiev Nights,” Southampton, New York, 2010
Kasia Kay Art Projects Gallery, Art Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 2010
RVS Fine Art, “One Fish…Two Fish,” Southampton, New York, 2009
Sandra Neustadter Gallery, “Art Palm Beach,” Palm Beach, Florida, 2010
Parus Business Centre, “Kiev Days / Kiev Nights,” Kiev, Ukraine, 2009
McNeill Art Group, “Red Dot Art Fair,” Art Basel Miami Beach, Florida, 2009
Fuxin Gallery, “Double Happiness,” Shanghai, China, 2009
Fuxin Gallery, “Shanghai Baby,” Shanghai, China, 2008
RVS Fine Art, “Berlin, Rossi & Petrov,” Southampton, New York, 2008
Rush Arts Gallery, “Art For Life,” New York, New York, 2008
GalleryBar, “Slaves of Fashion,” New York, New York, 2007
Boss Invitational, “Sex and Drugs New York,” Waregem, Belgium, 2004
RVS Fine Art, “Slaves of Fashion,” Southampton, New York, 2006
Bruce R. Lewin Gallery, “The Colossal Strappy Sandal,” NY, NY, 2000
Heller Gallery, “Heroes,” New York, New York, 2005
Mark Miller Gallery, “New York Contemporary,” New York, NY, 2000
RVS Fine Art, “All Dressed Up With No Place To Go,” Southampton, NY, 2005
Private Collections:
Fairfax Gallery, “Snacks Over Manhattan,” Royal Tunbridge Wells , UK, 2005
Kim Basinger, Luciano Pavarotti, Buzz Aldrin, Henry Buhl, Jimmy Carter,
RVS Fine Art, “From Russia With Love,” Southampton, New York 2003
Bill and Hillary Clinton, Harold and Pat Gelber, Jane Joel, Quincy Jones,
Gallery Facade, “Sex and Drugs New York,” Paris, France, 2001
David Letterman, Howard M. Lorber, Ron Rice, Dudley and Lisa Anderson,
RVS Fine Art, “Orchids and Goldfish” Southampton, New York, 2001
Patti E. Wallace, Jamie and Tara Vaught, Nick Studds, General Motors
Bruce R. Lewin Gallery, “Downtown Bellybuttons,” New York, NY, 2001
Corporation, Carnival Cruise Lines, Hawaiian Tropic, Resistol/Stetson
RVS Fine Art, “Sex, Cellphones, & Late Nights,” Southampton, NY, 2000
Hats, National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts
Hit the Road Gallery, “Snacks Over Manhattan,” Chicago, Illinois, 2000
and Nat Sherman International.
www.kevinberlin.com