September 8 to October 7
New Hope Arts is pleased to present their 2018 Legacy Artist, Robert Beck, with the opening of the exhibition Robert Beck: Archetype, showcasing 40 paintings from his most recent work.
Click here to read Janet Purcell's review in NJ.com
For more than than 25 years Robert Beck has been the artist among us, painting images of remarkable latitude, unsentimental and vivid, evolving as a painter whose vision delights. His body of work focuses on our time, a second look at ordinary objects, landscape and people - capturing a viewpoint we see but don't always notice, giving us an opportunity to pay attention.
Robert Beck is featured as our Legacy Artist for 2018 in keeping with our exhibition series begun in 2017. The Legacy we celebrate is living contemporary artists who have shaped and contributed to the regional arts community.
Katherine Hackl's distinctive pottery is a collection of hand–thrown functional stoneware and porcelain forms decorated with a hand–carved sgraffito technique. Each piece is a unique combination of elegant forms layered with botanical images, patterns, and illustrations.
ARCHETYPE opens Saturday, September 8, 5-8, and Sunday September 9, 1-4, at New Hope Arts Center, 2 Stockton St., New Hope PA. The show runs through October 7, with weekend hours, 1-4. If you would like to make a special appointment to visit the show, please call Robert Beck at 215-982-0074.
To visit the artists' websites:
Shared Language, at New Hope Arts Center
New Hope, Pennsylvania (August 3, 2018) — Robert Beck: Archetype takes his audience to places they understand. New Hope Arts Center is excited to present Robert Beck, their 2018 Legacy Artist, opening on September 8, and on view until October 7. The exhibition showcases 40 paintings from his most recent work: images of New York, Maine, and the Bucks County area.
An archetype is a thing or behavior we recognize as a unique “type,” and the term fits the artist as well as the art. Robert Beck has been giving us a good look at ourselves in his distinctive way for a quarter of a century. There is an observation about being human at the core of his paintings. Known for presenting a wide range of subjects, genres, and experiences in his images, Beck shares what he has discovered in each. “I’m an acute observer,” he says. “My subjects aren’t just what I see – they are what I learn. I paint in a language of shared experience because I’m portraying an encounter.”
“My subjects are not static moments. Viewers should sense a before and after — things happening outside the frame,” says Beck. “It’s not sufficient that you can tell the men are fishing for shad off Lewis Island; I want you to feel the evening begin to cool and hear the hushed voices on the water.”
Beck’s show is his first formal exhibition since The Maine Maritime Museum presented “Over East,” his 56-painting examination of the state’s rural fishing community, in 2016. His resume also lists in-depth museum exhibitions at the James A. Michener Museum and The Museum of the City of Trenton at Ellarslie; invitations to exhibit at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, The Michener, The Stephen Friedman Gallery in London, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Beck has had 33 solo shows, including at the National Arts Club in New York, and has participated 50 juried exhibitions. He has received 29 major awards, the Philadelphia Sketch Club Medal, The Phillips Mill Honored Artist award, and is the New Hope Arts 2018 Legacy Artist.
Beck’s special guest for this show is ceramicist/potter Katherine Hackl, whose work includes sculpture made of cast bronze, porcelain, coral, and copper. “Katherine is one of the finest blends of artist and craftsperson I know, and I’m thrilled to show with her again,” says Beck.
Long a Bucks County resident, Robert Beck has a studio in Solebury, PA that is available for visitation by appointment. For information about the exhibition visit newhopearts.org. To make an appointment call 215-982-0074. To view select images from the exhibition, go to robertbeck.net.