Past Featured Solo Exhibition:

Robin L. Bernstein, Hope Dies Last, 60 x 32

Robin L. Bernstein

Hope Dies Last

March 6 - April 19, 2025
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Artist's Reception
​March 8th, 1-4pm

Artists' Talk
Sat, March 22nd, starting at 4 pm

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Robin L. Bernstein: Hope Dies Last

Check out the recent 48hills interview by Mary Corbin, Fueled by anger at injustice, an artist forged a new path through ‘Beauty and Terror’

Transmission Gallery is pleased to present Hope Dies Last, a solo exhibition of sumptuous fiber-based works by Robin L. Bernstein addressing complex and challenging subjects.

In the immediate encounter, the work is beautiful with dynamic cut shapes and enticing color inviting the viewer in. At first, they appear to be painted, one can see the swirling line work. Stepping up closer, the elaborate threaded detail becomes evident. Hundreds and hundreds of pieces of thread and string have been pressed into wax creating a mesmerizing and tactile effect. This visual feast reverberates with our senses, reflecting the intimacy of the endeavor. The richness of color evokes a sense of warmth and vitality, contrasting with the heavy themes the works address for indeed there is a message imbedded in each piece, a troubling truth we might rather not know too deeply, but now it is at hand.

While developing each composition, Bernstein researches her subject extensively, thoughtfully considering and selecting the symbolism layered throughout the work. Shaped panels provide a framework to carry the concept. Colors and forms may reference historical suffering, specific incidents or fundamental principles. While some pieces in the exhibition specifically call out the insidious subtexts of white supremacy and fascism masquerading as more benign movements, others speak directly, painfully even, to the perils impending along the gamut of human endeavor. Rather than meet the future with denial, the work calls for recognition of those potentialities and, despite the looming threats, richly colored elements may be seen as rays of hope, inviting a personal commitment to consciously educate ourselves, and move forward in even small everyday actions, collectively making new decisions for a healthy and just society and planet. 

Works in the exhibition include  “Defense of Nature,” which addresses ideas of environmentalism, a cause so many rally around today as the specter of climate change hangs on the horizon. One might not be aware of the underpinnings of white supremacy driving early ecological movements. It can be easy to align with the noble goal of preserving nature, without realizing some groups pin their ideology on white dominion over the earth. “L’Dor V’Dor, From Generation to Generation” likewise calls out the numerical signifiers of antisemitism and racism, coded symbols readily recognized by members of certain white supremacist organizations actively preparing to assume greater power on the world stage. Another recent work, François Genoud: From the Holocaust to Hamas, references the money trail, built through the efforts of Nazi-era financial wizard, François Genoud, to the early funding of anti-Semitic terrorist organizations. Doves of peace swirl above, never able to land. 

With the word "Hopieum" emblazoned across a baby caught in the balance,  Bernstein's Hope Dies Last is perhaps the key to everything. Referring to the powerful human desire for hope in the face of all logic it can be read as ridiculous in its hope, nevertheless it is hope that soars above a laundry list of despair; unhoused, uneducated, impoverished, indifferent and hungry, the state of so many across the world. Observant and uplifted, another babe hovers, buoyantly gazing our way; principled, compassionate, courageous and loving. Which will it be?
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Works on view include:
1. Dominionism, 2024, string, wax and wood, 41" x 37"     
                   
Dominion theology/Dominionism is a Christian political ideology that seeks to replace Democracy with a White Christian government based on their understanding of biblical law (in that 'God grants Dominion over the earth’).

The Chief Justice of Alabama, Tom Parker, believes that God created Government and it is "heartbreaking that we have let it go into the possession of others". He and others have established that these 7 Mountains of US life must be taken over by White Christians: Education, Government, Family, Arts and Entertainment, Business, Religion, and Media.

2. The Audible Gasp, 2023, string, wax and wood, 46” x 38”  

Fear of reprisal, rape, torture, and murder motivated tens of thousands of German citizens to commit mass suicide as the victorious Russians advanced in April and May 1945. Civilians, government workers and military personnel jumped, cut their wrists, shot themselves (and their families), or bit down on capsules of Potassium Cyanide, which ends life within 4 minutes. Death by Potassium Cyanide creates an Audible Gasp, which can be heard when respiration ceases.
This piece is part of the series Beauty and Terror, an 18 work series about The Holocaust.

3. L'dor V'dor (From Generation to Generation), 2024, string, wax, wood, 40” x 40”

Be on the lookout for cloaked identifiers. The numbers and images represented here are hate symbols commonly used by white supremacist groups, hate movement ideologies, and individuals. Though appearing to be innocuous, numerical references such as 100%, 1488, 14, 88, 109, 9%, among others, may indicate an alliance with anti-Semitic or white supremecy organizations. It may seem alarmist to point these numbers out, however, they show up in various ways as signifiers of these connections, signaling others to align. Consider researching if you encounter them in social media feeds, fashion brand  apparel and commentary.  For instance, My Pillow founder Mike Lindell is selling pillows for $14.88 AND the actual pillows include these numbers.

* See the full list of numbers, symbols and their meanings below.

4. Baby Autocrats (Hitler & Stalin), 2023, string, wax and wood, 31” x 16”, 32” x 17”

5. DePopulation, 2021, string, wax and wood, 45” x 34”                                             

Mass Death is not a Problem: Chemical Warfare, Agricutural Crisis, Artificial Intelligense, Solar Engineering, Eco Collapse, Cyber Attacks, Global Warming, Nuclear Winter, Bio Terrorism, Nano Technology,  Resource Exhaustion, Overpopulation, Pandemics…

6. From the Holocaust to Hamas (or François Genoud) , 2024, 53” x 47”              

The connection between the Nazi idea of a master German race and Hamas’ intention to free the world of Jews aligns across the decades since the end of WW2. The violent terrorist attack of October 7, 2023 would not have been possible without the dedicated work of one Swiss Nazi: François Genoud.

Genoud was the principle financial manager, financial fixer for the Third Reich who made a fortune wielding influence in the Middle East after the end of the war. He created a conduit for stolen and unrecorded wartime assets taken from Jewish victims including cash, gold, art, and diamonds into protected Swiss bank accounts. His relationship with Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, set the stage for "a money pipeline that was directed to Arab insurgents in Palestine”.

Genoud did many things. He moved stolen money and goods out of Germany, financed the legal defense of multiple Arab Terrorists who killed and terrorized Jews using ransom, kidnapping, car bombing, and the highjacking of airplanes. Genoud recruited ex-Nazi intelligence officers and specialists in weapons and military training to their cause, published the first Arab translation of The Protocols of Zion and spread antisemitic propaganda over the region. He helped multiple high ranking Nazi war criminals escape justice, set up funds for Nazis in prison, seems to have had knowledge of the Munich Olympic massacre before it happened, and smuggled weapons to Algeria and other countries.
Genoud opened Swiss bank accounts in the names of terrorist groups, and helped to found and bankroll the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine thus supporting terrorist causes in Palestine. His involvement is likely to be found in most actions working against Israel and the Jewish people and in favor the the Thousand Year Reich for the nearly 50 years he lived past the end of the war.

François Genoud committed suicide at age 80 in 1993, just four weeks after The World Jewish Congress and Swiss banking officials announced a consequential commission to investigate him.

Sources:
​Hitler's Swiss Connection, by David Lee Preston, published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 5, 1997
Revealed: Nazi financial fixer who funded Palestinian terror, by Patricia and Gerald Posner, published in The Jewish Chronicle, Jan 25, 2025

7.  Singularity, 2024, string, wax and wood, 43” x 40”                                                   

The Singularity is a hypothetical future point in time at which technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, resulting in unforeseeable consequences for human civilization. The names of early computer scientists grace the ribbons on the left, names on the right include scientists who petitioned congress to pause AI develoment.

8.  Hope Dies Last, 2023, string, wax and wood, 60” x 32”                                                …
Hopeium: The powerful human desire for hope in the face of all logic

9.  In Defense of Nature, 2024, string, wax and wood, 50” x 52”                                    

People concerned about climate change can find themselves inadvertently aligning with a racist, xenophobic, and antisemitic ideology masquerading as environmentalism. Nostalgia, sustainability, and self sufficiency (in the manner of Cottage Core, an aesthetic promoting simple living in the countryside) are also core principles of Ecofascism.
Many ecofascists follow an ideology "which blames the demise of the environment on overpopulation, immigration, modernization, and over-industrialization, problems that followers think could be partly remedied through the mass murder of refugees in Western countries”. They believe that white people ought to have exclusive control over natural resources, and promote a reciprocal relationship between homeland and an identified nation group.

Past mass shooters have used the principles of ecofacism as reasons for their terrorist attacks in their written manifestos.
further reading: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/30/eco-fascists-and-the-ugly-fight-for-our-way-of-life-as-the-environment-disintegrates

In the Office:

10.  Self Portrait, 2025, hair, wax, and wood, 32” x 23.5”                                  
Made from the artist’s hair, the hair of her family and the fur of their dogs

More about Robin L. Bernstein

Selection of Exhibitions
2025
Hope Dies Last, Transmission Gallery, Oakland, CA
From Darkness to Light: Healing the Wounds (upcoming), Invitational Exhibition, Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, CA
2024
Threads of Change, Invitational Exhibition, Horton Gallery, San Joaquin Delta College, Stockton, CA
The California Jewish Open, The Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA
In Flux: Recalibrating the Unknown, Presented by SFAA at The Museum of Northern California Art. Chico, CA
Selections from Beauty and Terror, Yom HaShoah Community Observance, SFJCC, San Franciso, CA
Reflections: Now and Then, The Edgewater Gallery, Fort Bragg, CA
Big Works, Deep Valley Arts Collective and The Medium Gallery, Ukiah, CA
2023
Selections from Beauty and Terror, Solo Show, Pacific Textile Arts, Fort Bragg, CA
About Face, Portraiture through a Contemporary Lens, The Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
Left Coast Annual, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA
Beauty and Terror, Solo Show, Artist Talk/Demo, Bankhead Uncle Credit Union Gallery, Livermore, CA
Yarn, Rope, String at the New Bedford Museum of Art, New Bedford, MA
2022
Beauty and Terror, Part 2, Solo Show, Artist Talk, Transmission Gallery Oakland, Oakland, CA
Beauty and Terror, Part 1, Solo Show, Artist Talk, Vargas Gallery, Mission College, Santa Clara, CA
Yarn/Rope/String, FiberArtNow, July 2022 Issue
Fiberart International 2022, The Brewhouse Association and Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA
Art Talk, Demo, Workshop funded by The FiberArts Guild and The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh
EmeryArts 36th 2022, A Fantastic Ekphrastic Art and Poetry compilation
funded by Rotten City Cultural Arts District and the California Arts Council
2021
#art #activism, Mission College, Vargas Gallery, Santa Clara, California
2020
eauty and Terror, Solo Show and Artist Talk, Blue Line Arts, Roseville, Ca
De Young Open, juried group exhibition, De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
EmeryArts 34th 2020: the plague year, A Fantastic Ekphrastic Art and Poetry compilation
funded by The Rotten City Cultural Arts District and the California Arts Council
Invitational Drawing Residency, 3 weeks, Tomlinhill Farms, Columbia, Missouri
Pop Up Show at SFJCC Yom Hashoah Memorial Ceremony, San Francisco, CA - postponed due to Covid-19
1993 - 2024
Emeryville Celebration of the Arts, Emeryville, CA
2019
Beauty and Terror, Solo Exhibition and Artist Talk, Transmission Gallery, Oakland, CA
Mirka Knaster Art Blog, What is Art For? https://mirkaart.com/exploringtheheartofit
Lenore Weiss: Robin Bernstein’s Beauty and Terror http://www.lenoreweiss.com/
2017
Renegade Fiber, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, CA
2016
Artists Rendezvous Art Talk, Emeryville, CA, Beauty and Terror: The Tyranny of the Witness
A Commentary on the Rise of Trump 70 years after Hitler
We are the Bridge Invitational and We are the Bridge Interfaith Art Biennial, Osher Marin and the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California, Oakland, CA
2006
See Jane Run, Contemporary Art about Childhood, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
1989 - 2002
Modesto Junior College Faculty Exhibitions, Modesto, CA
2002
Robin Bernstein Solo Exhibition, College of the Redwoods, Arcata, CA
2000
Murals and Miniatures, Terrain Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1999
Matrix Gallery, 2 Person Exhibition, Sacramento, CA
1997
West Coast Painting and Sculpture, Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, CA
Robin Bernstein, Kennedy Art Center, Holy Names University, Oakland, CA
1996
Concerning Wood, Joan Roebuck Gallery, Lafayette, CA
1993
Works on Paper, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
Constructure, College of Marin, San Raphael, CA

Gallery Representation
Transmission Gallery, Oakland, CA https://thetransmissiongallery.com/index.html

Artist Talks and Bibliography
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj22tVuaLmg Surface Design Association, “Dignifying the Dead: Memorialization through Fiber Art” with Caren Garden and Mirka Knaster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f3pmtembgc. Pacific Textile Arts, On Beauty and Terror
https://48hills.org/2024/08/robin-l-bernstein-art-jewish-heritage-antisemitism-beauty-terror/
https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/Best-Bets-Robin-Bernstein-s-Fiber-Arts-Exhibit-17712731.php
https://www.pleasantonweekly.com/news/2023/01/04/beauty-and-terror-displays-powerful-and-historic-subject-matter.
https://www.independentnews.com/culture/bankhead-theater-to-exhibit-artist-s-holocaust-reminder/article_c12b8a68-7bdd-11ed-b8e4-5b76ea5742bd.html
https://jweekly.com/2022/09/21/robin-bernstein-uses-vibrant-fiber-art-to-fight-holocaust-ignorance/
https://www.pghcitypaper.com/arts-entertainment/fiberart-international-artist-preserves-holocaust-narratives-in-wax-22117442
https://jewishchronicle.timesofisrael.com/fiber-artist-confronts-the-holocaust-in-beauty-and-terror-series/
https://www.thedemocracychain.org/dcheng1221
https://missioncollegegallery.weebly.com

Curation
2023 Juror: Bearing Witness (SAQA Global) on the theme of the Holocaust and Global Genocides, Studio Art Quilt Associates, Hebron, CT

Teaching Experience
Currently Workshops and Classes in Yarn Painting, Ukrainian Egg Dyeing, Basic Drawing, and Portfolio Review and Guidance at Pacific Textile Arts, California Jewish Museum, Surface Design Association, ArtMakers Studio, and Privately
2011 - Present ArtMakers Studio School, Founder and Senior Instructor in all media including Stop Motion Animation, Portfolio Consultation, Age 6 - Adult, Emeryville, CA
2005 -2018. The Renaissance International School , Visual Arts Faculty, Elementary and Junior High, Oakland, CA
1989 - 2003 Modesto Junior College , Fine Art Faculty and Gallery Director, Drawing, Printmaking, Gallery Operations and Management, Modesto, CA