I don’t recall how I first found out about Bernie Kaminski, but I believe it was fate directed by the Instagram algorithm. I saw his account and my first thought was “OK, Bernie Kaminski is an incredible name.” The second was “Holy shit. I’m obsessed with his papier-mâché designs. (Sorry. I realize I could have just said paper-mache like a damn American, but the Jason Manual of Substack Style wouldn’t let me. He spelled it that way, so, with respect to Bernie, I kept his spelling in his answers.)
I don’t want to call his stuff “whimsical” because I hate that term now. It conjures up mental images of white guys with ironic mustaches playing ‘90s rap songs on a ukulele and not leaving out the N-word. I don’t think Kaminski’s work is twee, but there is something undeniably sweet about it. And for me, at least, a lot of the stuff he references tends to be instantly recognizable since we share a similar path from Chicago to New York. But it’s his eye to little details that I think I’m so fascinated by, the whole finding beauty in the tiny things like Adidas shoe boxes or a Zabar’s coffee mug. Sometimes when I’m feeling bad, I’ll just go and look at his page and I honestly feel a little better. And whenever he posts a new work, it feels like a tiny event worth celebrating.
Bernie was nice enough to answer a few questions over e-mail. Please check out his stuff when you find yourself bored of the same 10 pictures of celebrities or your little brother posting fit pics or whatever is on your Instagram feed.
Like Saul Bellow's Augie March, I believe you are American, Chicago born. Is that correct? At the very least, you've lived there. How do you think the city impacted your view of the world?
I grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago and lived in the city for a couple years after college.
When I was a kid, I connected with the city’s inferiority complex. In the late ‘70s, I read any baseball book I could find. There were zero books about Cubs players and just about every Yankee had a biography or memoir. That’s how I judged the city’s worth and I think that sense stuck with me for a while. Now I miss it a lot.
How did you get into papier-mâché?
When my daughter was in 5th grade, she brought home a paper-mache seahorse and I thought it looked cool. Then we made a few things together at home. I liked how they turned out and ended up making more on my own.
What, if you don't mind me asking, is your day job?
I work in TV, as a producer. Last year, when projects were on hold, I had more time to make things. It’s been a good quarantine activity.
Schlitz beer cans, baseball cards, Zabar's mugs: Obviously you create thing you like, but would you say there's any other overarching theme to your work? Like is there anything that pulls it all together besides "Things Bernie Kaminski is interested in?" Do you like to create things from certain eras, places, etc.
I spent a lot of time obsessing over baseball cards, Wacky Packages and Dynamite magazine. A lot of the things I make can probably be traced back to those somehow.
I really like the Big Mac. Would you say the Big Mac is a good hamburger? I've always been on the fence.
I remember Big Macs being delicious but I haven’t had one in years. When I can, I like to use a real object as a reference so when I decided to make a Big Mac I went to the McDonald’s in my neighborhood and bought one. But I didn’t want the smell in our apartment so I measured the pieces on the sidewalk and took some pictures and then threw it in the garbage.
Baseball shows up a lot. Who is your all-time favorite ballplayer?
Bruce Sutter was my favorite player when he pitched for the Cubs in the late-’70s. I’d get really anxious when he entered a game and hated to see him lose. Back then, there was a play about Cubs fans called Bleacher Bums. I saw a version of it on PBS. At the end, the Cubs lose after Sutter gives up a homer and it really bummed me out. I couldn’t even stand to see him blow a save in a play.
Chicago and New York are both cities with very distinct iconographies. Are there any logos or signs that stick out in your head from either of those places as being particularly great?
When I was a kid we shopped at an outdoor mall in Calumet City called River Oaks and I loved the design of everything there. In my memory it was like going to Lincoln Center. Now when I see certain fonts or styles of architecture, I think they look like River Oaks did but I could be way off.
I was also really into the aesthetic of anything Mets related even though I was a Cubs fan. And I still am. Maybe because Oscar Madison wore a Mets hat.
We're both fans of Elliott Gould. What makes Elliott Gould so great?
Elliott Gould is so funny and cool. The last movie I saw in a theater before the pandemic was Busting, where he and Robert Blake play detectives. I can not wait until I can see any of his movies on a big screen again.
What is your dream paper-mache project? What would you love to create if you had the time.
If I had unlimited time and space, I’d make a full-sized reproduction of an old newsstand with all the magazines, candy, etc. I’d also like to make some lawn chairs. But even with small pieces, I’m pushing the limit of how much of this stuff will fit in our apartment.