October 4 through October 25, 2014
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 4, 7-10PM
Bermudez Projects’ best-selling artist, Amanda Beckmann, whose works have spurred near riots at the gallery, is back with “Acknowledged,” an exhibit of 26 new mixed-media paintings – one for each letter of the alphabet – that are her most ambitious to date.
On view from October 4 through October 25, “Acknowledged” is two years in the making. Following the success of two sold-out shows in 2011 and 2012, Beckmann returned to the East Coast to plan, research, and prepare a new body of work that would demonstrate her evolution as a collage artist, with new techniques and media unseen in her earlier works.
Amanda Beckmann was born in Bayshore, Long Island, to a fisherman and his wife who would crank “Dark Side of the Moon” and set their kids free with crayons and paper. Self-trained as an artist, Beckmann chose collage, which she says “satisfies the hunter, gatherer, organizer and artist in me. I love cutting up glossy magazines and catalogs, hunting through thrift stores for vintage dictionaries and science manuals.”
In “Acknowledged,” old books and magazines make their appearances again, but so does “a super groovy vintage stamp” of the exhibit’s title that Beckmann has imprinted on nearly every piece… sometimes obvious, sometimes hidden.
“In addition, and new for me, I have also used vintage pattern papers (the thin tissue-like paper used in sewing),” says Beckmann. “I have also incorporated a few different materials: acrylic paint, shellac ink, and India ink.”
Beckmann also made her own block prints, used in several works in this series. The effect instills a new depth to her work. And, although they are still unashamedly beautiful to look at, more often now there is a palpable longing and melancholy, and a stillness that is new for Beckmann.
The artist’s signature tear-shaped petals continue to dance throughout her pieces. In the violet-hued “A, Archetype,” the petals grow into an elegant flower over the words “arch,” “abacus,” and “arboretum,” from the pages of a vintage dictionary, just one of Beckmann’s abundant source materials.
In “O, Obskur,” the petals are the tears of her ebon-hued block print, the leaves of an “oak.” And in “R, Rapture,” the petals become fireflies flying through a bright-green swamp, over “rabbi,” “rapier,” and “rapture.”
“Acknowledged” presents Beckmann’s newfound prowess as a mixed-media painter. With her roots in collage still evident, these pieces signify a turning point in the artist’s career.
Amanda Beckmann (b. 1965) is a self taught artist whose works are held in private and public collections both nationally and abroad. “Acknowledged” is the artist’s third solo exhibit. She has been featured in several group shows and press, including Artweek.LA, Pasadena Scene, Pasadena – Star News, and Zatista.com.
