Joseph Bernadas is a self-taught artist based in California. He was born in the Philippines and moved to the United States in 2006. His works have been exhibited in various galleries in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and the Philippines.
Artist Statement
My work navigates the liminal spaces between perception and power, inviting viewers into realms where familiar structures become unfamiliar and conventional hierarchies dissolve. Through oil paint and imagination, I try to create visual tensions that mirror the dissonance of our collective experience—the gap between aspiration and reality, between institutional narratives and lived truths.
The figures in my paintings exist in states of transformation, their proportions and contexts deliberately subverted to question what we've normalized. These distortions serve as visual metaphors for the warping of values within systems that shape our shared existence. Dreamlike landscapes and unsettling juxtapositions become territories for excavating uncomfortable questions about where we stand and where we're headed.
My artistic language draws from surrealist traditions while speaking to contemporary anxieties. Each composition creates a dialogue between symbolic elements: the authoritative posture undermined by environmental context; the historical reference reframed for present urgency; the sacred made profane, or perhaps the profane made sacred. The resulting visual poetry invites multiple interpretations while maintaining a consistent undercurrent of questioning.
These painted spaces serve as both mirror and window—reflecting distortions in our collective consciousness while offering glimpses into alternative possibilities. Through color relationships, compositional tensions, and symbolic imagery, I seek to create moments of recognition that transcend literal interpretation, allowing viewers to locate their own concerns within the broader visual conversation.
My practice ultimately exists at the intersection of aesthetic exploration and ethical inquiry—not prescribing solutions, but creating a visual language through which we might reimagine our relationship to power, to each other, and to the futures we're collectively crafting.
Awards
| Prize | Show Title | Year | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Prize, Works on Canvas | Dimensions XLV | 2017 | Art Center, Corpus Christi, Texas, USA |
| Honorable Mention | American Dream - National Juried Exhibition | 2017 | K Space Contemporary, Corpus Christi, Texas, USA |
| Finalist | Metrobank Young Painters Annual | 1998 | Makati, Philippines |
Selected Exhibitions
| Year | Show Title | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Renascence | Limner Gallery, Hudson, New York, USA |
| 2023 | Portraits | Gallery Omnibus, Dresden, Germany |
| 2022 | The Divine Feminine | Art From Heart CIC, London, United Kingdom |
| 2022 | Deception of the Digital | Geneva Center for the Arts, Geneva, Illinois, USA |
| 2022 | 1st Annual Photography & Digital Art Exhibit | San Francisco Women Artists Gallery, San Francisco, California, USA |
| 2022 | All Art+: Creating Reality | Van Der Plas Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
| 2017 | Dimensions XLV | Art Center, Corpus Christi, Texas, USA |
| 2017 | American Dream - National Juried Exhibition | K Space Contemporary, Corpus Christi, Texas, USA |
| 2016 | The Remembered | K Space Contemporary, Corpus Christi, Texas, USA |
| 2012 | K Space Studio Artists | K Space Studios, Corpus Christi, Texas, USA |
| 2009 | K Space Painters Annual | Corpus Christi, Texas, USA |
| 2007 | Art Center Independents Annual | Corpus Christi, Texas, USA |
| 2006 | NO Art Exhibit | Dumaguete City, Philippines |
| 2005 | Buglasan Festival | Dumaguete City, Philippines |
| 2003 | Kinaiyahan Art Exhibit | Dumaguete City, Philippines |
| 2001 | Drowing-drowing Dos | Ayala Center, Cebu City, Philippines |
| 1998 | Metrobank Young Painters Annual | Makati, Philippines |
| 1997 | Dipolog Art Fest | Dipolog City, Philippines |
| 1996 | Grupong Sosyal | Endhouse, Dumaguete City, Philippines |
| 1995 | Sugod sa Katapusan | Endhouse, Dumaguete City, Philippines |
| 1995 | The Endhouse Artists | Endhouse, Dumaguete City, Philippines |
| 1994 | Samba Likhaan | Quezon City, Philippines |