User:Wise-artichoke/sandbox/John Beech

John Beech is a British artist currently living and working in Brooklyn, New York.

Life and Works
John Beech (born 1964, Winchester) is a British sculptor and painter. He moved to the United States at a young age and studied at the University of California in Berkeley,  where he got a Bachelor of Arts in 1986.

Beech’s work is defined by the use of humble objects and materials like car floor mats, raw plywood, containers and junk,reconfigured into painted, colored, and textured assemblages that draw attention to form, shape, and scale. Beech is interested in "the object quality of things", in letting the form and materials demonstrate themselves. A relevant element in Beech’s work is also his choice of materials. "I’m interested in fusing the visual vocabulary of utility and abstract art" , he says. Ordinary objects such as dumpsters and patched subway platforms catch his eye and provide the basis for nuanced works of art. Another important part in Beech’s work is his large collection of Found-Photo Drawings (more than six-hundred). The artist has been collecting second-hand or discarded photos and painted over them. He choses his photos according to the texture or the imperfections and he paints or draws on these in order to extend and articulate a relation defined by fairly clear parameters. Beech considers a drawing complete when the photograph and the applied material conjoin to become a resonant new entity, no longer tied to an historical moment.

John Beech’s works have been exhibited widely in the United States and in Europe and are included in the collections of numerous museums, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; the Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerkand; and FRAC Bretagne, Rennes, France.

''“Beech wants to jog us out of perceptual habit. His idiom is a poetics of normal wear and tear.”'' - Kennerh Baker, San Fransisco Chroicle.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

 * 2020: Ever, Galerie Gisele Lindner, Basel, Switzerland
 * 2019: John Beech, Haus der Kunst St. Josef, Solothurn, Switzerland
 * 2018: "Under Way", Anglim Gilbert Gallery, San Francisco, USA
 * 2018: "John Beech: Outside the Drift", Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
 * 2017: "Silent Articles", Daniel Marzona, Berlin, Germany
 * 2016: "Object in Place", Galerie Les Filles Du Calvaire, Paris, France
 * 2016: "John Beech: New Work", Galerie Gisèle Linder, Basel, Switzerland
 * 2015: Frieze New York, Peter Blum, New York
 * 2014: Galerie M&R Fricke, Berlin, Germany
 * 2014: "viewpoint", Haus Der Kunst St.Josef, Solothurn, Switzerland
 * 2014: "John Beech: Small Wall Objects", Concept Space, Shibukawa, Gunma, Japan
 * 2012: "Time Expanded", Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
 * 2012: "The Space Surrounding", Peter Blum Soho, New York, New York
 * 2012: "Likelihood / Unlikelihood", Galerie Les Filles Du Calvaire, Paris, France
 * 2011: 85-87 FBG. St. Martin (with Galerie Les Filles Du Calvaire), Paris, France
 * 2011: "Door to the Window", Haus Der Kunst, Solothurn, Switzerland
 * 2011: John Beech, "A Selection of Recent Work", Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, Oregon
 * 2011: John Beech, Portland Art Museum, (Curator: Bruce Guenther) Portland, Oregon
 * 2011: "The State of Things", Peter Blum Chelsea, New York, New York
 * 2010: "John Beech: Works for a Wall", Galerie Gisèle Linder, Basel, Switzerland
 * 2009: "Incidents: Drawings and Sculpture", Galeria La Caja Negra, Madrid
 * 2009: John Beech & John Zurier, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, California
 * 2008: "Obscure / Reveal", John Beech & Edward Albee, Peter Blum Soho, New York, New York
 * 2008: "Nohow", CCNOA, Brussels, Belgium
 * 2007: "That and This: New Work", Peter Blum Chelsea, New York, New York Galerie Gisèle Linder, Basel, Switzerland
 * 2006: "John Beech New Work", Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, California
 * 2006: "John Beech: Project Space", G Fine Art, Washington D.C.
 * 2006: "John Beech New Work: Sculpture and Drawings", Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
 * 2005: "Recent Sculpture and Large Scale Drawings", Peter Blum, New York, New York
 * 2005: "New Sculpture made on Site and Drawings", Galerie M+R Fricke, Berlin, Germany

Selected Group Exhibitions

 * 2020: A Space full of Drawings and a Drawing in Space, Galerie Daniel Marzona, Berlin, Germany
 * 2019: Memento Mori, Daniel Marzona, Berlin
 * 2018: "Subvert City", Minus Space, Brooklyn, NY ‚Artissima 2018’, Dialogue section, Artissima 2018, Torino, Italy
 * 2018: "Backstage", curated by Burkhard Brunn at Thomas Rehbein Galerie, Cologne, Germany
 * 2017: "Unique and Multiple: Selections from Smith Andersen Editions, the Legacy of Paula Z. Kirkeby" (Curator: Robert Conway) de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California
 * 2016: "Brasserie", Haus der Kunst St. Josef, Solothurn, Switzerland
 * 2016: "Radical: Monochrome Paintings from the Goodman Duffy Collection", George Lawson Gallery, San Francisco, California
 * 2016: "Dumbball: David Ireland and his Circle", Anglim Gilbert Gallery, San Francisco, California
 * 2015: "Kabinettstücke / Sammlung Gabriele Kuebler", Stiftung für Konkrete Kunst, Reutlingen, Germany
 * 2015: "Peter Blum Edition: Books and Prints", Peter Blum, New York, New York
 * 2015: "Retrospective Paule Anglim 1923- 2015", Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, California
 * 2015: "Quand fondra la niege, où ira le blanc", (Curator: Bernard Marcelis), Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire, Paris, France
 * 2015: "Concrete Post 3", raum2810, Bonn, Germany
 * 2015: "Concrete Post 2", (Curator: David Thomas), PSSR Gallery, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia,
 * 2014: "Brasserie", Haus der Kunst St. Josef, Solothurn, Switzerland
 * 2014: "Gauguin to Warhol: 20th Century Icons from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery", San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California
 * 2014: "Hunting + Gathering: New Additions to the Museum Collection", New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
 * 2014: "Ellipse", (Curator: Erin Lawlor), A3 Municipal Gallery, Moscow, Russia
 * 2014: "30 Jahre", Galerie Gisèle Linder, Basel, Switzerland
 * 2014: "Regular John", (Curator: Jim Lee) Junior Projects, New York, New York
 * 2014: "Traces", Peter Blum, New York, New York
 * 2014: "CCNOA 30/30 Image Archive Project: A Collective Collection", A/B/Contemporary, Zürich, Switzerland
 * 2013: "Brasserie", Haus der Kunst St. Josef, Solothurn, Switzerland
 * 2013: "Histoires et Géographies: Acquisitions récentes du Frac Bretagne", Frac Bretagne, Rennes, France Coluna 2, Vienne, France
 * 2013: "Unruly", Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, California
 * 2013: "Six Memos for the Next…", Magazin 4 Bregenzer Kunstverein, Bregenz, Austria
 * 2012: "CCNOA 30/30 Image Archive Project: A Collective Collection", 71BD Richard Lenoir, Paris
 * 2012: "Brasserie", Haus der Kunst St. Josef, Solothurn, Switzerland
 * 2012: "Hibernation", Oliver Sears Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
 * 2012: "Art on Paper 2012", (Curator: Xandra Eden), Weatherspoon Art Museum,
 * 2012: University of North Carolina, Greensboro, North Carolina
 * 2012: "Pink", Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
 * 2012: "Virtual Insanity", Fiedler Taubert Contemporary, Berlin, Germany
 * 2012: "Drawing a Line in the Sand", Peter Blum, New York, New York
 * 2012: "Eretai (John Beech, Lael Marshall, David Rabinowitch, Michael Voss)", Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, California
 * 2011: "Fifty Years of Bay Area Art: The SECA Awards", San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California
 * 2011: "The Long Curve. 150 years of Visionary Collecting at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery", The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
 * 2011: "Carte Blanche à Clare Kenny: Odds and Ends", Galerie Gisèle Linder, Basel, Switzerland
 * 2011: "Paper Variables", Dieu Donné, New York, New York
 * 2011: John Beech & Kathrin Kunz, Galerie Gisèle Linder, Basel, Switzerland
 * 2010: "Thirty Years of Collecting: A Recent Gift to the Museum", Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, Arizona
 * 2010: "Human Rites", (Curator Silvia Karman Cubïná & Steve Holmes) The Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, Florida
 * 2010: "Living in Two Worlds", Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM
 * 2010: "The Artist & The Photograph", (Curator: Clare Kenny), Ausstellungsraum Klingental, Basel, Switzerland
 * 2010: "Metropolis", Galerie M & R Fricke, Berlin, Germany
 * 2010: "Reflection", Peter Blum Soho, New York, New York
 * 2010: "My Eyes Keep Me in Trouble", (Organized by CCNOA, Brussels), La Station, Nice, France
 * 2010: "Quantos Queres", Marz-Galeria, Lisbon, Portugal
 * 2009:"Des Mondes Voisins", Galerie Gisèle Linder, Basel, Switzerland
 * 2009: "Common Ground: Color", Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
 * 2009: "Glissements de Terrain", Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire, Paris
 * 2009: "30 x 30 cm Project", Mcnay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas
 * 2009: "Yellow", Galerie Gisèle Linder, Basel, Switzerland
 * 2009: "Projet 25 une exposition pour Gisèle", (Curator: Friederike Stangier), Galerie Gisèle Linder, Basel, Switzerland
 * 2009: Art Unlimited 10, Art Basel 40, Basel, Switzerland
 * 2009: "PS 1999-2009", PS, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
 * 2009: "Prints", Galerie Gisèle Linder, Basel, Switzerland
 * 2008: "Miniaturization", Galerie Gisèle Linder, Basel, Switzerland
 * 2008: "Paper", Galerie Gisèle Linder, Basel, Switzerland
 * 2008: "Begin Again Right Back Here" (Curator: B.Wurtz), White Columns, New York, New York
 * 2008: "Summer 2008", Galerie Gisèle Linder, Basel, Switzerland
 * 2008: "Works on Paper: The Natalie and Irving Forman Collection", Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
 * 2008: "My Eyes Keep Me In Trouble", (Organized by CCNOA Brussels), Sydney
 * 2008: College of the Arts Gallery (SCA), Sydney, Australia
 * 2008: "-traveled to: The Physics Room", Christchurch, New Zealand
 * 2008: Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
 * 2008: "+ de réalité", École Régionale des beaux-arts de Nantes, Nantes, France
 * 2008: "Annual Invitational Exhibition of Visual Art", The American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, New York

Honors

 * 1999: the Pollock-Krasner Foundation award
 * 1998: the Chinati Foundation, residency, Marfa, Texas
 * 1992: SECA Art Award, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
 * 1985: Maybelle M. Toombs Award for practice of art, University of California, Berkeley