William Beckman “Recent Paintings and Drawings”
Forum Gallery
This event has ended.
An exhibition of 16 new works by William Beckman. The 12 oil paintings and 4 pastel landscapes included, all completed since 2008, are a testament to Beckman’s singular power and innovation in the fifth decade of his New York exhibition history.
William Beckman’s principal concern has long been the human figure, and the present exhibition is no exception. In addition to three portraits and two important self-portraits, two major panel paintings continue the artist’s signature Studio series. Life-size figures inhabit these paintings; the Artist, his model and his work environment join to confront the viewer and inspire the work.
The Studio paintings give rise to smaller still-life paintings that focus tightly on Beckman’s own materials. The four still lifes in this exhibition are the first in the genre that the Artist has exhibited publicly; on closer look, they display endless contradictions; they are active, energized abstractions as much as paintings of vessels, paint tubes and brushes.
Born in rural Minnesota on a working farm, William Beckman depicts the midwestern farm landscape with unequalled authenticity. The five landscapes in the exhibition (four are pastels) reflect his intimate knowledge of the grain fields and plowed earth of the working farm. In heightened, dramatic fashion, one of the self-portrait paintings incorporates the Artist in large scale with the Minnesota landscape in the background.
[Image: William Beckman “Studio Five” (2010-2012) oil on panel 60 x 49 1/4 in.]
Media
Schedule
from March 20, 2014 to April 26, 2014