You’ve guessed! Glass isn’t glass when it’s a Photorealist painting by Roberto Bernardi!
This painting is called Spettatori – Italian for ‘audience’ – and was part of an incredible of Photorealist art
exhibition I visited recently.
Isn’t it absolutely unbelievable how Bernardi has captured the transparency and the very essence of glass? The beauty, the reflections, the quality of the material we all know and love so much, his painting has it all.
Born in 1974, Bernardi starting painting when he was very young. He moved to Rome when he was 19 to work as a restorer in the church of San Francesco a Ripa. Maybe this is where he got his eye for such minute detail? Restoration is incredibly particular and it makes perfect sense to move from that to a Photorealist style.
He doesn’t only focus on glass, this guy can paint ANYTHING! If you don’t believe me, here’s his website as proof. Magazines, groceries, bread and shoes – you name it he can paint it.
His website also has other paintings of glass that are photographed professionally, so they’re worth a special look.
See his work yourself for real by catching the international museum tour on Photorealism*. All I can say is ‘go if you can’. I can guarantee you will be amazed.
Where To See It
*Photorealism – 50 Years of Hyperrealistic Painting is on at:
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, (England) – now until 30 March 2014
NOMA – New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans (U.S.A.)
OKCMOA – Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklaoma City (U.S.A)
The Butler Institute Of American Art, Howland Township, Ohio (U.S.A.).