«Olivia De Berardinis (born November 1948) is an American artist known for paintings of women, often referred to as pinup or cheesecake art. She has been working in this genre since the mid-70's. Since 2004 Olivia has been a monthly contributor to Playboy Magazine, where her art pinup page appears with captions written by Hugh Hefner.
Born in Long Beach, California, her childhood years were spent primarily on the east coast. She attended the New York School of Visual Arts '67 -'70. Resided in, Soho, N.Y.C. from 1970 to '74, creating Minimalist paintings.
Olivia was one of the new artists introduced in the Second Annual Contemporary Reflections 1972-73, of the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in Ridgefield, Conn. Also presented as one of 18 new artists in the "Tenth Anniversary, the Larry Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art 1964-74" with established artists including Eva Hesse, Agnes Martin, and Frank Stella.
By 1975 financial pressures forced Olivia to seek out commercial art work. She returned to the skills she had gained as a child, painting women. She did work for periodicals and paperback publishers, advertisements, and movie posters. Olivia quickly secured regular work, starting in '74, painting erotic fantasies for men's magazines.
"Necessity shaped my career, I thought illustrating for sex magazines might be a fun temporary job until my "real" career started. In the back of my mind I believed I would go back to the fine arts. It wasn't clear to me then, but this work became my art."
In 1977, she and partner Joel Beren started the O Card Company to publish Olivia's work as greeting cards. In 1979, she married Joel Beren in NYC. They created another company, Ozone Productions, Ltd., to sell and license Olivia's artwork.
In 1987, they moved from Manhattan, New York to Malibu, California, where they currently reside. Olivia's artwork has been shown in art galleries throughout the United States and Japan, and her work is collected by fans worldwide. An original Olivia painting now appears in each issue of Playboy magazine.»
