David Bernstein

I make sculptures and find ways to activate them. The sculptures take their visual language from familiar things such as tools and ritual items, but they are morphed and transformed into abstract forms that produce new associations. The objects serve as starting points for conversations, stories, and performances. I intend to shift the status of an object, elevating it to become more than what it is, to evoke an almost sacred power.

When presenting work, I try to create intimate spaces for meeting and hospitality. There is a particular focus on touch which facilitates a deep and intimate relationship, not only with objects but also between individuals. This physical aspect is blended with language, often using word play and humor as a way to open up a curious, joyful, but also critical state of mind. Much like the sculptures, I take words as a material that can be stretched, shifted, and combined.

I collaborate with a variety of people, sometimes for a single project or for a longer sustained practice, such as with the cosmic cowboy collective, Self Luminous Society (SLS). In SLS, we try to reach the divine with a transcendental state of mind and a beautiful big behind. We are linguistic, metaphysic, mystical, lunatics.