studioe


Brian Beck
Bio | CV | brianalanbeck.com | #brian.a.beck

EXHIBITIONS
Indie Folk: New Art and Sounds from the Pacific Northwest Jan 18 - May 21, 2022, at Jordan Schnitzer Museum or Art, Pullman, WA
June 13 - Aug 13, 2022 at Schneider Museum of Art, Southern Oregon University, Ashland OR
Organic Archival: Dec 5- Jan 12, 2020, Group show with Nikita Ares, Brian Beck, Dawn Cerny, Warren Dykeman, Alfred Harris, Andrew Hendrixson, Damien Hoar de Galvan, Ken Kelly, Sharon Louden, Brian Sanchez, Maya Strauss, Heather Wilcoxon, and Mully Zuckerman-Hartung
TREE: June, 2019 at the Vashon Center for the Arts
1 ROOM: August 2018, A special exhibition during the Seattle Art Fair.
rot: December 1 – January 13,  2018 - Solo exhibition
Yellow: Group show with Gillian Theobald, Warren Dykeman, Robert Hardgrave, Brian Cypher, Carole d’Inverno, Heather Wilcoxon, Helen O’Leary
May 7th – June 4th 2016
3 ROOMS: August 2016, a special exhibition for the Seattle Art Fair at the King Street Station.
Obsolescence: July 2015, Solo exhibition
Brian Beck’s sculptural work hangs on several tensions. Materially, they are finely crafted, handmade, unique wood pieces so polished as to appear familiar and mass produced. Formally, they imply the whimsy of a child’s toy while embedding an adultish complexity bordering on menace (a tank can be playful, but it is never innocent). Conceptually they are collages, often exploring relational combinations of, say, landscape and architecture. Boiled down they can be seen as human activity in the face of the natural world. Making the pieces out of wood allows for a meditative process rooted in tradition and skill, resulting in a kind of inherent calmness in the work. Put some wheels on a block of wood and we are immediately reminded of pull toys, yet utility and mobility remain at odds with a kind of instability. At the core of the work is a sense of home in that where we are is where we belong, sheltered in the middle of the storm.


BIO
A midwesterner with Teutonic roots, Beck balances formal art training (BFA MCAD) with a personal journeyman-style exploration of traditional European carpentry, his trade skill influencing his art practice and vice versa. He has had two solo shows at studio e in Seattle as well as participating in numerous group shows. His work is in numerous private, corporate and civic collections, and has been presented publicly in temporary and permanent settings through commissions and residencies.

Brian Beck lives and works in Seattle.


Caboose Sky, 2024, Maple wood and latex, 8 x 12 3/4 x 11 1/4 in. Untitled, 2022 Brian Beck, Northern Woods, 2019 Wood and acrylic paint Brian Beck, Untitled, 2019, Raw and painted wood, 12 x 15 x 4 in. Untitled (tree truck), 2019, Raw and painted wood Untitled, 2019, Raw and painted wood, 21 x 9.5 x 11 in. (Sold) Brian Beck, 4 and 20 Blackbirds, 2020, Raw and painted wood, 45 x 20 x 3 in. Three Oaks Battleship (sold) Hemlock Tracktorberg, 2019, Wood and paint, 22 x 6 1/4 x 4 1/2 in. (Sold) Brian Beck, 2020, Cuckoo, Raw and painted wood 24 x 13 x 6 in. B6-H,2017 Natural and painted pine wood, 24 x 24 in. Brian Beck, Untitled, 2018, Raw and painted wood Brian Beck, Untitled, Raw and painted wood, paper. 12 x 15 x 4 in. Brian Beck, Untitled, 2018, Raw and painted wood, 10.5 x 5.5 x 2.25 in. Brian Beck, Untitled, 2018, Raw and painted wood, 10.5 x 5.5 x 2.25 in. W5-2, 2017, Natural and painted pine wood, 28 x 26 x 6 in.



rot-1, Natural and painted pine wood, 30 x 12 feet, 2017 rot: exhibition detail 2017 exhibition detail rot: exhibition detail WW-2, Natural and painted pine wood, 14 x 26 inches, 2017 2H-S Natural and painted pine wood, 72 x 62 inches, 2017 Brian Beck, The Black Tulip, 2020, Raw and painted wood, 29 x 15.5 x 4 in. (sold) Alpine, Amandine Bakeshop/ studio e pop up RD-3, Natural and painted pine wood, 35 x 40 inches, 2017 Brian Beck, Hand hewn, traditional Swedish Log cabin, Obsolescence, 2015 solo exhibition Brian Beck, Gateway Park: Public sculpture commissioned by the Seattle Mayor's office, destroyed 2019