Richard Berner

Richard Berner is an internationally collected artist based in Brighton, known for his distinctive, highly detailed works created with inks, fineliner pens, and gouache paint.

Heavily influenced by the Surrealists, Berner draws upon the bizarre and absurd—citing Salvador Dalí and M.C. Escher as primary inspirations—to construct unique, dream-like compositions. Creating a form of visual alchemy, he builds his iconic images out of countless miniature, hand-drawn figures known as “champs.”

Existing in a state of dualism, these champs are simultaneously surviving and perishing within the same space, representing how hope and despair go hand in hand. With a well-honed sense of irony and dark humour, Berner’s dynamic art invites the viewer to draw in closer, as woven through each image are powerful, surreal, and deeply human messages about life and death.

Thought of by viewers as everything from lost souls to lemmings, Berner ultimately considers them all champs.

Featured