Donna Bernstein is a contemporary mixed media artist obsessed with creating original, compelling art through the use of blended mediums, materials and modern colors. The continuing thread of her work is the form of the horse, a modern take on their ancient qualities, embodying whatever it is Donna wants to say.
“It is not horses that I paint; I paint the way they make me feel.”
Horses are Donna’s favorite to paint because of their big movement, emotion and energy—evocative of both power and pleasure. Often depicted running off the canvas with just three legs, this furthers her signature style of gestural and anatomical accuracy. So although her work may be more abstract, each horse is still very much correct.
Most of Donna’s art features spontaneously rendered horses, in all their multi-hued and deeply intimate glory. Donna does not recreate scenes from life, letting viewers feel her emotion through the medium of paint. Rejecting naturalistic use of color, she seeks focus on spirituality, letting the paint go where it wants. Her work comes across as very expressionistic to me.
While best known for her large canvases, I love that Donna is able to cross boundaries with fashion and art through silk scarves. This definitely gives me a new interpretation for what I’ve always perceived as a traditional silk scarf. Donna’s silk scarves are most certainly too beautiful to be regarded as ephemeral. Heirlooms in their own right, I think they are totally worthy of framing! It’s wear-able and frame-able art.
Donna doesn’t just create—she never stops creating. She’s completely unafraid of experimentation and seems energized by exploring almost every artistic medium from paintings to sculptures; jewelry to fashion. She thrives on being innovative, rather than derivative
I can’t be drawn to a favorite—too hard to choose! In my opinion, everything Donna creates is fascinating.
