Ford Beckman (1952-2014) approached art making with a duality of purpose, creating minimal "Black Wall Paintings" and explosive "Pop Paintings" simultaneously.  Whether the artist was paying homage to artist-heroes, such as Malevich, Pollock, Johns or Warhol, Ford distilled each reference to its essence and invigorated the subject with his facile use of color and industrial materials.  "Pop Targets" was an ongoing investigation of the hybridization of minimal and pop aesthetics.  

 

Simultaneously mechanical and gestural, explosive and contemplative, Ford's Neo-Suprematist-Spiritual-Pop paintings expanded and continued a modernist discourse.  Whether it was the reinterpretation of the square, the ultimate modernist pursuit, or the reinvention of the target, the need to re-think and rework that which is iconic was a never ending pursuit for Ford Beckman.

 

"Beckman's painting is a response to the spiritual crisis of modernity.

With Beckman, painting renews its spiritual intention, becomes a spiritual sanctuary, achieves, once again, a spiritual aura, if in a very different, indeed worsening spiritual climate."

                                                                                           Donald Kuspit

 

Beckman's work has been exhibited internationally and is included in such notable public collections as Panza Collection, Italy; Saatchi Collection, London; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Israeli Museum, Jerusalem; Essl Collection, Vienna; the Denver Art Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.