ARTIST 18
ILLUSTRATION / SKATEBOARDING
NEW JERSEY · ILLUSTRATOR / COLLAGE ARTIST
A New Jersey artist cutting, drawing and rearranging the strange parts of surf, skate, nature and human anatomy into graphics that feel familiar until you look at them properly.
Sean Bernhardt was born and raised in New Jersey. He currently lives in Ocean Grove and works from his art studio in Manasquan.
The Jersey coastline, its surf culture and the strange mixture of beauty, weather and boardwalk weirdness remain close to the center of his work.
Sean is a full-time freelance artist specializing in hand-drawn illustration and analog paper collage.
His process combines original drawing with physical pieces of printed material, cutting and rearranging imagery until the different parts begin speaking the same strange language.
COMMAND Z IS NOT AVAILABLE.
Sean has been working with and contributing to the surf and skate industries since 2011.
His client list includes Globe, Reef, Billabong, Creature, ATM and many others across the board-sports world.
His favorite projects are shirt graphics, cover art and shop logos.
Each gives him room to create an image with a strong identity—something that can live on fabric, surround a record or hang above a shop door without quietly disappearing into the background.
Surf, skate, snow, animals, nature and the darker side of life provide the bulk of Sean’s source material.
Rather than separating the beautiful from the unsettling, his work lets them share the same composition and see what kind of trouble they make together.
Skeleton hands, eyeballs, mouths, brains, waves and other strange objects repeatedly surface throughout Sean’s artwork.
The symbols return in different combinations, becoming a familiar cast of characters that never behaves quite the same way twice.
Sean is continually looking for ways to change his process, test a different visual approach and work with new people.
The style remains recognizable, but the route taken to reach it is always allowed to get lost.
OFTEN FOUND ON THE CUTTING TABLE
Cut it apart. Move it around.
SEE WHAT CRAWLS OUT.
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