Hi Alva, so here we come with this little chat. First of all: where are you right now?
I am in my flat in Brixton, south London, a place where I moved to when I left my childhood home. The walls are colourful and covered with Catholic kitsch. Also hanging are some of my early photos, some mixed-media airbrush work, religious icons painted on a couple of the doors and plastic toys hanging from the bathroom wall. You will have seen it quite a lot in my photos. You can even check it out.
The subtitle of your website is I am a one man subculture, and indeed, looking at your pics one can feel the presence of various subcultures from last century. How is your relationship with subculture, and when did you decide to become one?
At the time I came up with that, not only was I writing about my work, I was also screen printing T-shirts and it was one of the slogans I came up with. Subcultures are a like-minded group of people who wish to be different by being just like their friends who provide reinforcement. I did not know others of the same point of view, nor did I need them. Influenced by the Dada and Surrealist manifestos I wrote my own describing the aims of my work and I called it Bernadinism. Although my work was largely surrealist, it was not always surreal so I needed another description for it. With the manifesto I had created a one-man art movement and since I was the only bernadinist, I needed a slogan that was not only apt but witty. I first printed it on a T-shirt, on the front of which was «Saint Alva» and the picture of my covered face with a halo and on the back I am a One-Man Subculture. I still have it and wear it for special occasions.
Can I publish the Genius essay I found on your website? And is the short (very short) bio I found in the about section inspired by Warhol? (And btw, how much of your work is inspired by Warhol?)
Yes, you may use it. I wrote that when I was 26. Styling myself as a master back then was meant to be ironic but it has grown less so as I have got older. Needless to say, I am still unhappy. I read a Warhol biography many years ago but I cannot remember much of it but it played no part in writing my own biography. He has not influenced any of my work so far. Artists who have influenced me, though, are firstly Rene Magritte. Seeing his work made me want to gravitate towards surrealism. Then came Salvador Dali whose influence can be seen in my Shadow and Its Shadow series. Other artists whose work I have used in my imagery include Picasso and Modigliani.
I remember exhibiting an image of a nude in a kitchen with washing lines attached to her nipple rings. It is called The Most Scurrilous Washing Line in Christendom and hung out to dry were knickers, baby clothes and a man’s shirt. I exhibited it under the name Beverly Hill and Time Out magazine interpreted it as a feminist statement.
It looks like «Juxtapoz» got a bit confused with your gender, doesn’t it?
I had not realised until you pointed it out. I remember exhibiting an image of a nude in a kitchen with washing lines attached to her nipple rings. It is called The Most Scurrilous Washing Line in Christendom and hung out to dry were knickers, baby clothes and a man’s shirt. I exhibited it under the name Beverly Hill and Time Out magazine interpreted it as a feminist statement. If they had known I was a man maybe they would have described it as misogyny.
The word that is most used to describe your work is «unconventional». How important is it to be so, and basically, aren’t we all unconventional to each other?
Unconventional just means my work is not the same as the average photographer. When I began as a photographer straight away I wanted to set myself apart from most others and create a style that was distinctive and would command attention. It took me 18 months. First I was an «impressionist», photographing the tourist spots of London, then I shot surreal studio still-lifes with a large format camera. After that I went outdoors again and started shooting in my present style. It was eight years before I started shooting nudes regularly and then they were just for me. Nine years after this my work was published in my first book, Bernadinism: How to Dominate Men and Subjugate Women.
Often your pics are just saying «come on, let’s have a laugh» but in the Genius stuff, you wrote about how it’s important to be unhappy to make good art. Am I getting this wrong? What did you actually mean?
When I first started showing my work to art directors some would tell me I was mad and sometimes laugh at my pictures. I was surprised by this reaction because when I looked at Magritte’s work I neither thought him mad or funny. I found them thought provoking and witty but not laugh-out-loud funny, and I imagined my own work would be received in the same manner. When it wasn’t, I was taken aback at first but got used to it.
At the age of 19 something happened that persuaded me my life would never be happy. Self-fulfilling prophecy or not, it has come true. I was channeling my unhappiness and angst into my photography, which gave me a lot of concentration, intensity and inspiration. The last time I was happy, was fleetingly in 1995 and the time before was 1992 when I rode my bicycle out of Lancaster on a sunny day to explore the Lake District for a week. A few years ago I was in hospital and thought I was going to die. The conclusion I came to was a re-confirmation of my atheism and that my life had been a waste. I made a film about it, The Death of Alva Bernadine.
Alva Bernadine is absolutely, positively and definitively one of my real names. It is the name the government and my mother know me by but it is not the name on my birth certificate.
You’re a black guy in white England making art and erotic photography. How much is this easy?
Britain is not a good place to exhibit erotic photography. Few galleries will entertain it so I look for opportunities outside this country. My last solo exhibition was in Paris last autumn, which got quite a lot of coverage over there. It is a place I would like to exhibit again. As for me being black; if someone would discriminate against me because I am black, I would not want to work with them in any case. I always inform models I am black. If that perturbs them then they can make their excuses in various ways without unpleasantness.
Last and we’ve done: is Alva Bernadine your real name?
Yes, of course. Alva Bernadine is absolutely, positively and definitively one of my real names. It is the name the government and my mother know me by but it is not the name on my birth certificate. I am reminded that early in my exhibiting career, I used various pseudonyms. Apart from Beverly Hill, there was Adolf Himmler, Chris Mastry, Al Pine and various others. These were for group shows and I didn’t take them at all seriously. Years ago I looked up the name Alva in a couple of name books. In one it said it meant blond in a Scandinavian language and in another it said that it was Hebrew for injustice. There is of course the famous Thomas Alva Edison but it is also a female name in the USA. I have only ever met one other Alva here in the UK. If you google my name you will find I am the only Alva Bernadine on the internet, if not the planet. I am probably the only Alva Bernadine in this arm of the galaxy but further than that, who can say?
Alva Bernadine | website
