| Robert Beck |
(Baltimore, MD, 1959- )
Lives and works in New York City
Like much of Robert Beck's work as an artist, Untitled (Daily
over/under @ close range w/ .12) addresses
masculinity and violence as it relates to the family. While shooting
beer cans and other targets with his father, Beck brought out a set
of artist's drawing pads which the two also fired at. Given the status
of the artist's drawing pad as an intimate direct symbol of what
and who an artist is, means that for Beck, this work serves as a
kind of self-portrait.
In 1968, Beck's father bought guns for the artist and his siblings
as Christmas gifts, and The Family Photo ("Christmas, 1968") was
taken, each child awkwardly holding their new guns. Violence, masculinity,
familial dynamics and a latent sense of dread permeate much of Beck's
work. |
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Untitled (Daily over/under @ close range w/ .12), 2000
Gunpowder
on paper, 36 x 48 x 1 in.
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The Family Photo ("Christmas, 1968"), 1999
Thermal dye-transfer print, wood, deer hooves, glass, paper, rawhide
and nail
14 x 16 x 2 in. |
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