Artist Kim Beck is featured at Julio Fine Arts Gallery
Alexa Gagliardi
Issue date: 9/29/09 Section: Arts & Society
The current exhibit on display at Loyola University's Julio Fine Arts Gallery, Ownership Society, features the work of artist Kim Beck. Typically Beck's work observes ìinsignificantî objects and places that tend to be overlooked or ignored in our daily lives. This particular show happens to concentrate on the notion of space as it is constructed and destructed as well as occupied and vacated.
Beck formulated her ideas for this exhibit while living in New York during the heart of the economic downturn caused by our "Ownership Society." As our consumer culture exploded, Beck became intrigued by the concept of manís desire for ownership. This ultimately led her to examine the inevitable foreclosures and bankruptcies that ensued after the economyís collapse.
The subject matter of this exhibition emphasizes the dismal nature of the global credit crisis and its effects. For example, the series of grayscale gouache and ink images, "Foreclosure Homes 1-5," depicts a number of vacated homes.
The monochromatic color scheme of these works appropriately communicates the realistic sadness that is associated with the sale of a home due to foreclosure. Each image, adapted from real-estate agent photographs, is devoid of residents, emphasizing the forced vacancy of these homes and the lack of funding our economy has become accustomed to. Shadow is also accentuated in these images, again, adding to the dramatic ambiance Beck strives to communicate.
These same themes are repeated in a series of three large, untitled compositions lining the rear wall of the gallery. "Untitled" represents architectural plans with an intricate web of geometric cutouts, possibly representing the incomplete nature of the home that it strives to portray.
This series illustrates a partially constructed house that has been abandoned, again, due to foreclosure. The nature of the work itself, with paper lightly tacked to the grey painted wall, creates depth and shadow much like a three dimensional building. These combined characteristics of the work aid in communicating Beckís desire to show what is being both constructed and deconstructed at the same time.
Beck formulated her ideas for this exhibit while living in New York during the heart of the economic downturn caused by our "Ownership Society." As our consumer culture exploded, Beck became intrigued by the concept of manís desire for ownership. This ultimately led her to examine the inevitable foreclosures and bankruptcies that ensued after the economyís collapse.
The subject matter of this exhibition emphasizes the dismal nature of the global credit crisis and its effects. For example, the series of grayscale gouache and ink images, "Foreclosure Homes 1-5," depicts a number of vacated homes.
The monochromatic color scheme of these works appropriately communicates the realistic sadness that is associated with the sale of a home due to foreclosure. Each image, adapted from real-estate agent photographs, is devoid of residents, emphasizing the forced vacancy of these homes and the lack of funding our economy has become accustomed to. Shadow is also accentuated in these images, again, adding to the dramatic ambiance Beck strives to communicate.
These same themes are repeated in a series of three large, untitled compositions lining the rear wall of the gallery. "Untitled" represents architectural plans with an intricate web of geometric cutouts, possibly representing the incomplete nature of the home that it strives to portray.
This series illustrates a partially constructed house that has been abandoned, again, due to foreclosure. The nature of the work itself, with paper lightly tacked to the grey painted wall, creates depth and shadow much like a three dimensional building. These combined characteristics of the work aid in communicating Beckís desire to show what is being both constructed and deconstructed at the same time.
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