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Michael Beck is best known for his crisp and exacting images, reminiscent of Dutch still lifes. Elegantly composed and technically superior, objects in them seem to compete for space as white light dances among them on the surface. Viewers ask if the objects are painted or affixed to the canvas. But these are not the images Beck paints today.
His work today is a distillation and synthesis of his experience and virtuosity. Instead of many objects, there is now a single, to-scale item in each of the works. They may be familiar, maybe not. These objects have had their own 'lives', perhaps their own stories - hence "Biography": a house jack, coin changer, lawn sprinkler or even an ironing board - yet items not found in stores today - unless shopping for antiques.
Once you move beyond the curiosity of an object, you are seduced by its rendering - the quality, even its emotion. We discover the paintings may not be so different from earlier works because their subjects, really, are the masterful handling of light and color and composition.
New Realities |
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