Untitled (“Young Children and Their Drawings” by Joseph H. DiLeo / “Artist As Therapist” by Arthur M. Robbins), 2002/2005
Latent finger print powder, charcoal, oil pastel, acrylic, and carbon on paper
13 3/8 x 11 inches
PRESS RELEASE
Robert Beck
1 April – 13 May 2005
Opening reception: Friday, 1 April, 6 to 8 pm
Anthony Meier Fine Arts is pleased to announce an exhibition of new work by New York artist Robert Beck. For his second solo show at the gallery, Beck has selected works of various media that respond to the specific domestic atmosphere of the gallery space. Ongoing concerns for the artist are exemplified in this context, such as the family, memory, sexuality, and violence.
Radiating throughout the disparate works are various inflections of home, such as architectural space, memory repository, or psychological projection. As common household materials are often subject matter for the artist, a variety of them are engaged here, for instance a shower curtain and a family photo keepsake.
In Apart From the Whole (Communion), Beck isolates mundane details from family snapshots and betrays the subtle insinuations of familial gestures. The domestic multiple-window-mat photo frame is redrafted, enhancing what might otherwise be overlooked.
In a series of new “psychological” drawings, Beck amends earlier ones by superimposing them with new drawings based on illustrations found in personality-assessment tests or psychological case studies. Emblems of “self-expression,” each drawing conjures dual psychological worlds.
Also on view is a gelatin-silver print, Screen Memory (Sister’s Room), which bears an image of a unicorn partially obscured by amorphous reflections. From a larger series of photographs of photographs, this cliché, yet fantastical image suggests that some memories, by necessity, blot out rather than reveal events from one’s past – a primary subtext throughout the show.
