A pragmatic approach
Bernardo Vallarino, Indecent Exposure, 2023, Mixed media, 24x24x30. $8500 Fort Worth artist Bernardo Vallarino doesn’t tell viewers what to think about his work; he invites you to decide himself JAMES M.
RUSSELL | Contributing Writer James.Journo@gmail.com Bernardo Vallarino doesn’t feel sleazy about placing a sculpture of a gun-shaped erect penis bulging out of incredibly tight boxer briefs alongside a commission for a synagogue’s 150th anniversary.
In fact, there he is, on the third floor of the former location of the Arlington Museum of Art in December, looking at those works in the solo show Hard On: Guns, God and Gold, which includes photographs, paintings and sculptures.
Meaning and interpretation are open to discussion in his work, he stressed. “I’m a pragmatist,” Vallarino said. It’s a genteel and Texas concept.
