Jungle Kartell

KATHERINE BERNHARDT (B. 1975)  

Jungle Kartell  

acrylic and spray paint on canvas  

120 x 180 inches (304.8 x 457.2 cm)  

Executed in 2017.

PROVENANCE:  

The artist  

Lever House Artwork Collection, New York

EXHIBITED:  

New York, Lever House Lobby, CONCRETE JUNGLE, JUNGLE LOVE, April-September 2017.

Katherine Bernhardt (b. 1975, St. Louis, Missouri) is an American painter celebrated for her exuberant, large-scale canvases that fuse abstraction, pop culture, and everyday imagery into a vibrant visual language. Working primarily with acrylic and spray paint, she transforms familiar subjects—from tropical plants and animals to consumer products and cartoon characters—into bold, energetic compositions marked by vivid color, gestural brushwork, and an intuitive sense of rhythm. Rejecting traditional perspective and illusion, Bernhardt embraces a direct, spontaneous approach that allows unexpected associations to emerge, establishing her as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary painting.

Katherine Bernhardt's Jungle Kartell (2017) is a monumental acrylic and spray paint canvas that combines lush tropical plants with unexpected everyday objects, including a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a glowing orange lamp. Rendered in her signature bold, fluorescent palette and energetic, sketch-like style, the oversized composition blends humor, spontaneity, and vibrant color while reflecting her fascination with the visual abundance of both popular culture and the tropics. Originally commissioned for the 2017 Lever House exhibition CONCRETE JUNGLE, JUNGLE LOVE, the work formed part of a vibrant, site-specific installation that transformed the iconic modernist building into what Bernhardt described as a "Jurassic terrarium," where paintings, interactive soft sculptures, and botanical elements created an immersive environment inspired by her travels through Mexico and Puerto Rico. Jungle Kartell embodies the exhibition's playful spirit, pairing monumental scale with exuberant imagery to blur the boundaries between painting, installation, and the natural world.

Bernhardt has been the subject of major solo exhibitions at institutions including the Hangaram Art Museum at the Seoul Arts Center, South Korea; the Gangneung Art Museum, South Korea; the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas; the Museo Mario Testino (MATE), Lima; and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas. She has also presented solo exhibitions with leading international galleries, including David Zwirner in London, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, and New York. Her work is held in prominent public collections worldwide, including the The Brant Foundation, New York; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; Knoxville Museum of Art, Tennessee; Portland Museum of Art, Maine.