PERFORMANCE

PERFORMANCE
KEVIN BERLIN
PERFORMANCE
The performances included in this portfolio,
are original ideas, created and executed by
KEVIN BERLIN. Many required the Artist to
organize a team effort by more than 50 individuals.
While BERLIN’s work has a core focus of drawing,
painting and sculpture, for BERLIN, “the idea” always
comes first. KEVIN BERLIN’s work is well described
by the german word “gesamtkunstwerk,” which refers
to a body of artwork that encompasses every
medium - literature, performance, installation,
sculpture and video.
BERLIN currently lives and works in Florence, Italy
and Southampton, New York. His recent
performances have taken place on 4 continents.
“BERLIN, with innocence, has nailed the robot gray future.
Disco Babbits smile, giggle, sulk, tinkle 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, territorial neuroses & separation of the sexes - good luck celebration city.”
Peter Beard
From the introduction to the “Sex & Drugs: New York,” catalog
“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 impossible, we
are lucky to have Kevin Berlin. Even in the most melancholy and sophisticated of his works like ‘The Velvet Rope’
the partially clad or nude female form glows with freshness
and the possibility of love. For Berlin’s version of the much
villified ‘male gaze’ is 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
“Berlin Socks”
performance - runway show
“Presentation of Berlin Socks, ‘Snack Sock Collection,’
Men’s Spring 2000. Kevin Berlin’s artist designed
cotton & cashmere luxury socks were first sold at
Saks Fifth Avenue in 18 stores nationwide”
Lost Art Studios
515 West 29th Street, New York, New York, 2000
Photos: Thomas Kleticka
“Downtown Bellybuttons”
performance - runway show
“The history of bellybuttons in art, from the classical to
contemporary period.”
Bruce R. Lewin Gallery
136 Prince Street, New York, New York, 2001
Photos: Thomas Kleticka
“Sex and Drugs New York”
body painting performance
“Body painting of illegal drugs on five models tied to
each other with black cloth in Gallery.”
Galerie Facade30, Rue Beaubourg
Paris, France
Aired on channel M6 Television
“Paris Premiere.” 2001
3.27 minutes
click link
“Giovanni Rossi:
Maestro Della Cucina,
(Master Chef)”
live performance
“Italian cooking program involving
tomato sauce, 28 pounds (12 kilos)
of spaghetti and a volunteer from
the audience in Gallery window.”
RVS Fine Art
20 Jobs Lane
Southampton, New York, 2008
Photos: Katarzyna zill
“Catch of the Day”
live performance
“A live Mermaid is discovered by Artist in back of Gallery,
and carried to a large, water filled cooler in front window
during opening reception.”
RVS Fine Art
20 Jobs Lane
Southampton, New York, 2009
Photos: Katarzyna Zill
“Giovanni Rossi: ‘Tomato Girls’ at Polo”
video performance
“World renowned artist, jet-setter Giovanni Rossi arrives at
Polo displaying his art upon Tomato Girls.”
Mercedes-Benz Polo Challenge
Bridgehampton, New York, 2006
Video: WVVH TV HAMPTONS TELEVISION
3.01 minutes
click link
“Giovanni Rossi:
Nella Giuria di (on the Jury of) Miss Motors 2007”
video performance
“Le più belle di tutt’Italia riunite a Taranto per le finali del
concorso di bellezza MISS MOTORS 2007. Giovanni Rossi
helps to judge the most beautiful women in all Italy for the
National Finals for MISS MOTORS 2007 beauty pageant.”
Miss Motors 2007 beauty pageant, National Finals
Taranto, Italy
2.16 minutes
click link
“Boris Ivanovich Petrov”
video performance
“Film from a private archive 2003.”
Nevskiy Prospect
Saint Petersburg, Russia
1.38 minutes
click link
“Kevin Berlin: Robert Wilson interview”
video performance
“Robert Wilson on the Opening of the Water Mill Center 2006.”
The Watermill Center
39 Watermill Towd Road
Water Mill, New York
Video: WVVH TV HAMPTONS TELEVISION
4.01 minutes
click link
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
Kevin Berlin
Born: Rochester, New York, 1965.
U.S. Presidential Scholarship, Honored by President Reagan at The White House,
Wash. D.C. 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.
Private Collections:
Buzz Aldrin, Kim Basinger, Henry Buhl, Jimmy Carter, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Harold
and Pat Gelber, Jane Joel, Quincy Jones, David Letterman, Howard M. Lorber, Luciano
Pavarotti, Ron Rice, Nick Studds, General Motors Corporation, Carnival Cruise Lines,
Hawaiian Tropic, Resistol/Stetson Hats, National Foundation for the Advancement of
the Arts and Nat Sherman Intl.
Solo Exhibitions:
RVS Fine Art, “One Fish…Two Fish,” Southampton, New York, 2009
Parus Business Centre, “Kiev Days / Kiev Nights,” Kiev, Ukraine, 2009
Fuxin Gallery, “Double Happiness,” Shanghai, China, 2009
RVS Fine Art, “Berlin, Rossi & Petrov,” Southampton, New York, 2008
RVS Fine Art, “Made In China,” Southampton, New York, 2007
GalleryBar, “Slaves of Fashion,” New York, New York, 2007
RVS Fine Art, “Slaves of Fashion,” Southampton, New York, 2006
Heller Gallery, “Heroes,” New York, New York, 2005
RVS Fine Art, “All Dressed Up With No Place To Go,” Southampton, New York, 2005
Fairfax Gallery, “Snacks Over Manhattan,” Royal Tunbridge Wells , UK, 2005
RVS Fine Art, “Wine and Chocolate,” Southampton, New York, 2004
RVS Fine Art, “From Russia With Love,” Southampton, New York 2003
Gallery Facade, “Sex and Drugs New York,” Paris, France, 2001
RVS Fine Art, “Orchids and Goldfish” Southampton, New York, 2001
Bruce R. Lewin Gallery, “Downtown Bellybuttons,” New York, New York, 2001
RVS Fine Art, “Sex, Cellphones, & Late Nights,” Southampton, New York, 2000
Hit the Road Gallery, “Snacks Over Manhattan,” Chicago, Illinois, 2000
RVS Fine Art, “Snacks Over Manhattan,” Southampton, New York, 1999
The Empire State Building, “Snacks Over Manhattan,” New York, New York, 1999
Selected Group Exhibitions:
Sandra Neustadter Gallery, “Art Palm Beach,” Palm Beach, Florida, 2010
McNeill Art Group, “Red Dot Art Fair,” Art Basel Miami Beach, Florida, 2009
Fuxin Gallery, “Shanghai Baby,” Shanghai, China, 2008
Rush Arts Gallery, “Art For Life,” New York, New York, 2008
Boss Invitational, “Sex and Drugs New York,” Waregem, Belgium, 2004
Bruce R. Lewin Gallery, “The Colossal Strappy Sandal,” New York, New York, 2000
Mark Miller Gallery, “New York Contemporary,” New York, New York, 2000
The Yellow Barn Gallery, “Eight Presidential Scholars,” Glen Echo, Maryland, 1998
New York Coliseum, “Colossal Strappy Sandal Monument,” New York, New York, 1997
Rockefeller Center, Rainbow Room, “Caviar Over Manhattan,” New York, NY, 1997
Madison Square Garden, “Snacks Over Manhattan,” New York, New York, 1997
Selected Media:
WVVHTV Hamptons Television, “ David Nadal Presents,” “Art Basel Miami,” 2006 -09
Shanghai Daily, Shanghai, China, 2009
SmartShanghai.com, Shanghai, China, 2009
Artzinechina.com, Shanghai, China, 2009
Southampton Press, Southampton, New York, 2008.
Quest Magazine, New York, New York, 2005.
BBC Radio Kent with Pat Marsh, United Kingdom, 2005.
WVVHTV Hamptons Television “Innerview in the Hamptons,” 2002—2005.
Exclusief Magazine, “Kevin Berlin,” Antwerp, Belgium, 2004.
Interbusiness Magazine, St. Petersburg, Russia, 2003.
Dolce Vita Magazine, Prague, Czech Republic, 2002.
WNYC Public Radio, “The Next Big Thing,” New York, NY, 2001.
M6. Paris Premiere, “Kevin Berlin: Sex & Drugs,” Paris, France, 2001.
New York Post, 2001.
USA Today, 2001.
New York Times, Sunday Styles, 2000, 2001.
MTV Music Television, “Sexy Summer Swimwear,” 2000.
WITG Chicago, “Weekly Arts,” Chicago, IL 2000.
Hamptons Magazine, 1998, 2000.
Miami Herald, 2000.
CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood, 1999.
Tokyo Television, “Morning Satellite,” Tokyo, Japan, 1999.
New York Times, Sunday Magazine, 1998.