Boston Globe...Gallery Pick of the month - 8/4/2005     
Fuller Museum, Brockton, MA    Ricky Bernstein - "Kitchen Dreams" 

   Bernstein creates remarkably complex and wonderfully comic scenes in glass, which he mounts on an aluminum armature.  Each hovers out from the wall at variety of distances - a kitchen sink in one of his cartoons is closer to you than the woman standing behind it.  The feeling is all jostle and jumble.  It's bright, colorful, and graphic, and the characters are as sharply drawn and droll as Doonesbury's Uncle Duke.  "Gladys sometimes wondered if there was life beyond her kitchen sink," sets the lady in apron and curlers, overwhelmed by dirty dishes.  Bernstein throws in plenty of detail: A radio, a phone with a speech bubble spouting a monologue.  These are big, time-consuming, ambitious pieces that are compositionally and technically impressive, qualities that make their light-hearted comedy all the more worth savoring. - Cate McQuaid

Gretchen Keyworth: Director - Fuller Museum

     "Although Bernstein's characters are frequently caricatures of the overworked, overbooked, overwhelmed Americans - there are also comforting images in his artwork.  In his sculpture "Beverly, Lois and Gladys," Bernstein includes his viewer in an intimate kitchen scene.  This intimate portrait of the kitchen is absolutely accessible.  The viewer can look at this and feel a sense of recognition, whatever the state of his or her own kitchen.  The fine craftsmanship, intimacy, accessibility, social commentary and humor in Ricky’s work made "Kitchen Dreams" an excellent exhibition for the Fuller Museum.