Richard Berner is an internationally collected artist based in Brighton, UK, working in a variety of media. He is best known for his distinctive and highly detailed pieces, using inks, fineliner pens and gouache paint. He creates visual alchemy by constructing iconic images, often formed of countless figures or 'champs'.
Influenced by the Surrealists, Berner draws upon the bizarre and absurd, citing Dali and MC Escher as his biggest inspirations which can be seen in his unique and dream-like pieces. Berner challenges assumptions with a well-honed sense of irony and dark humour.
Juxtaposing life and death, Berner invites the viewer to come in closer and devour an endless story of their own within his art. Woven through the intimate and dynamic images are powerful, surreal and very human messages.
The champs are surviving and perishing within the same space. Hope and despair go hand in hand. They have been thought of as everything from lost souls to lemmings; Berner considers them all champs.
In December 2023, Enter Gallery presented You Can Be Anything (*Or Nothing) - Berner's debut solo show in Brighton. The show explored the vulnerability of the artist, and art's uncanny ability to mean everything to one person and absolutely nothing to the next. Read all about the show here
