Over the past decade, Bernhardt has focused on painting all manner of pop culture icons (e.g. Darth Vader, R2D2, Garfield, the Smurfs, E.T., the Pink Panther, etc.) as well as objects from more everyday pop culture (such as cigarettes, toilet paper, NYC subway passes, plantains, sharks, watermelons, tennis shoes, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Scotch Tape, ice cream, pizza, etc.).

Bernhardt’s latest exhibition explores the legendary Pink Panther in a series of vibrant, large canvases. While the original 1963 version of the Panther was pastel pink, exuding charm, tenderness and tranquility, Bernhardt’s versions show him in hot fluorescents, bold plum, mauve, magenta, fuchsia, bubblegum and lavender colors – an exploration of the spectrum of pink hues that can be mixed from modern pigments.

One variation of this is Nike Panther.

Bernhardt began painting the Pink Panther after she arrived at the Pink Palace Hotel (also called the Royal Hawai’ian Hotel), located on a sandy beach in Waikiki, Oahu, not far from an eighteen-foot-tall bronze sculpture of King Kamehameha I, the greatest Hawaiian warrior leader, usually adorned with tons of giant floral wreaths made of eight species of bright pink orchids. The pink of this trip continued after she checked into the hotel, which had pink bath towels, pink bedding, pink eye masks for sleeping, pink rugs, pink beach chairs, pink beach towels, pink stationery, pink sunsets, pink pancakes for breakfast and the pink panther on the TV screens. After watching videos of the panther over and over again with her son as they loll on their giant pink bed and stroll the hotel grounds, while her son Khalifa continued to watch Pink Panther videos on his cell phone, Bernhardt decided the panther might look good on a large-format screen, too.