In memory of
FORD BECKMAN 1952 - 2014
FORD BECKMAN 1952 - 2014
THE LAST ‘POP TARGETS’
APRIL 11 – MAY 16
This marks the second exhibition of Ford
Beckman's work at Maloney Fine Art and will serve as a memorial to the artist,
who died unexpectedly from a heart attack this past November.
For the past three decades Ford
Beckman approached art making with a duality of purpose, creating minimal
"Black Wall Paintings" and explosive "Pop Paintings"
simultaneously.
Whether the artist was paying homage
to artist-heroes, such as Malevich, Pollock, Johns or Warhol, Ford
distilled each reference to its essence and invigorated the
subject with his facile use of color and industrial materials. "Pop
Targets" was an ongoing investigation of the hybridization
of minimal and pop aesthetics.
Simultaneously mechanical and
gestural, explosive and contemplative,
Ford's Neo-Suprematist-Spiritual-Pop paintings expanded and continued
a modernist discourse.
Whether it was the reinterpretation
of the square, the ultimate modernist pursuit, or the reinvention of the
target, the need to re-think and rework that which is iconic was a
never ending pursuit for Ford Beckman.
"Beckman's painting is a response to the spiritual crisis
of modernity. With Beckman, painting renews its spiritual intention, becomes
a spiritual sanctuary, achieves, once again, a spiritual aura, if in
a very different, indeed worsening spiritual climate."
Donald
Kuspit
Beckman's work has been exhibited
internationally and is included in such notable public collections as
Panza Collection, Italy; Saatchi Collection, London; The Museum of
Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Israeli
Museum, Jerusalem; Essl Collection, Vienna; the Denver Art Museum and
the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
