RI CKBECK
I TF I GURES
Published by Ken Saunders Gallery 230 West Superior Street Chicago, IL 60654 www.kensaundersgallery.com © 2017 Ken Saunders Gallery All Rights Reserved Design by Amy Stieve Photography by Steve Mann and David Ramsey
Published on the occasion of the exhibition
RICK BECK: IT FIGURES March 3 - April 30, 2017
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In these small figurative sculptures Rick Beck explores volume, color and gesture; with a modernist’s view of the world the artist reduces the physical characteristics of the human form to their essence. Beck pares down and streamlines as he suggests a concentration of meaning based on movement or posture. Nodding to Brancusi, Braque and Picasso Beck digs for the soul of the matter. The blue angel is bowed, exhausted but not broken, by her burden. The large spoon-ish figure sprints across the gallery, limbs kinetic. Several figures are in various reclining yogic poses; the green reclining figure impossibly bent back above itself is nonetheless the very image of calm, inside and out. Taken as a group the entire display is lively in form and color. It is an exhibition that feels playful and fun. And while the artist is deliberate and serious the work is inviting and sensuous. The gallery is proud to present Rick Beck’s fifth exhibition at the gallery entitled It Figures. This catalogue has been produced to document the works in the exhibition. Ken Saunders March, 2017
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TABLE cast glass and steel 36 x 75 x 12.5 inches 2016
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BLUE WINGED FIGURE cast glass 29 x 10 x 5 inches 2016
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NIMBUS cast glass 12.5 x 16 x 5 inches 2015
INDIGO SPOON FIGURE cast glass 83 x 16 x 8.5 inches 2015
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DUST Y ROSE SUNSET cast glass 18 x 14 x 5 inches 2017
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BLUE KNEELER cast glass 14.5 x 9 x 2.5 inches 2017
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PALE BLUE SHELF FIGURE cast glass 8 x 25 x 3 inches 2016
T WO SCOOPS cast glass 72 x 19 x 13 inches 2016
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L AVENDER STANDING FIGURE cast glass 23 x 4 x 5 inches 2017
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GREEN CAST FIGURE cast glass 7.5 x 21.5 x 3 inches 2017
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CLEAR STANDING FIGURE cast glass 22 x 12 x 4 inches 2017
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YELLOW STANDING FIGURE cast glass 22 x 5.5 x 5 inches 2017
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EDUCATION 1986-89 MFA in Glass at Southern Illinois University / Carbondale, IL / Instructor: Bill Boysen 1978-82 BA in Art, emphasis on glass at Hastings College / Hastings, NE / Instructor: Richard Bird SELECTED EXHIBITIONS 2017 Ken Saunders Gallery / It Figures / Chicago, IL 2014 Ken Saunders Gallery / Now / Chicago, IL 2013 Blue Spiral 1 / Rick Beck, Showcase / Asheville, NC Thomas Riley Gallery / Solo Exhibition / Cleveland, OH Columbia Museum of Art / Figures and Forms: The Sculptures of Rick Beck / Columbia SC 2012 Vero Beach Museum of Art / Form, Color, Light / Vero Beach, FL 2011 Habatat Galleries / Palm Beach, FL 2010 Ken Saunders Gallery / Artifact/Toy / Chicago, IL 2009 Habatat Galleries / Royal Oak, MI Habatat Galleries / Tysons Corner, VA Thomas Riley Gallery / Two-person exhibition, Valerie and Rick Beck / Cleveland, OH 2008 Christa Faut Gallery / Shared Vision / Cornelius, NC Habatat Galleries / Boca Raton, FL 2007-08 Museum of Nebrasks Art / Glass / Kearney, NE 2007 Marx-Saunders Gallery / Chicago, IL 2006 Thomas Riley Gallery / Cleveland, OH Cameron Museum of Art / Wilmington, NC Muskegon Museum of Art / Muskegon, MI 2005 Gallery of Art and Design NCSU / Form - Rick Beck Traveling Museum Exhibit / Raleigh, NC 2004 Snyderman Gallery / Philadelphia, PA 2003 Marx-Saunders Gallery / Chicago, IL Kentucky Museum of Art and Design / Louisville, KY Heller Gallery / New York, NY 2002 Gallerie Alegria / Birmingham, AL 2001 Snyderman Gallery / Philadelphia, PA Heller Gallery / New York, NY Glasmuseum / Ebeltoft, Denmark Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts / Montgomery, AL 2000 Green Hill Center for N.C. Art / Sculpture - Rick Beck Solo Traveling Museum Exhibit / Greensboro, NC Gallery WDO / Charlotte, NC 1998 Heller Gallery / New York, NY Gallery WDO / Charlotte, NC Chelsea Gallery, Western Carolina University / Cullowhee, NC 1997 Snyderman Gallery / Philadelphia, PA 1998 Heller Gallery / New York, NY 1995 Snyderman Gallery / Philadelphia, PA 1994 Gallery WDO / Charlotte, NC The Rachel Collection / Aspen, CO 1993 Snyderman Gallery / Philadelphia, PA 1991 University Art Gallery, Tennessee Tech. University / Cookeville, TN 1989 Southern Illinois University / MFA Thesis Exhibition / Carbondale, IL 1985 Hastings College / Alumni Show / Hastings, NE 1983 Stuhr Museum / Grand Island, NE AWARDS 1995 SAF/NEA Regional Visual Arts Fellowship 1994 North Carolina Arts Council Visual Arts Fellowship
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SELECTED COLLECTIONS Asheville Art Museum / Asheville, NC Columbia Museum of Art / Columbia, SC Fletcher, Barnhart, White Corp. / Charlotte, NC Glasmuseum / Ebeltoft, Denmark Hickory Museum of Art / Hickory, NC McDonalds Corporate Collection Mint Museum / Charlotte, NC Mint Museum of Craft and Design / Charlotte, NC Mobile Museum of Art / Mobile, AL Muskegon Museum of Art / Muskegon, MI North Carolina State University / Raleigh, NC Ogden Museum of Southern Art / New Orleans, LA The Palley Collection / Miami, FL Racine Art Museum / Racine, WI University of North Carolina at Charlotte / Charlotte, NC Western Carolina University / Cullowhee, NC XL Screw Corporation / Wheeling, IL SELECTED PUBLICATIONS May 2009 / Arts and Activities / Front Cover May-July 2009 / Tools for Creativity / Front Cover October 2004 / American Style / Page 87 January-February 2003 / Glass Art / Page 28-29 Winter 2002 / Glass / Inside Back Cover Oct-Nov 2002 / American Craft / Page 4 Fall 2002 / Glass / Page 12 Fall 2001 / Neues Glas / Front cover and Pages 20-27 Feb-March 2001 / American Craft / Pages 98-99 Winter 2000 / Glass / Inside Back Cover Dec 2000-Jan 2001 / American Craft / Page 8 April-May 2000 / American Craft Summer 1999 / Glass / Page 36 Fall 1998 / Glass / Page 65 April-May 1998 / American Craft / Page 86 Dec 1997-Jan 1998 / American Craft / Page 16 Fall 1996 / Glass / Page 65 Oct-Nov 1996 / American Craft / Inside Cover Feb-March 1995 / American Craft / Page 10 Winter 1995 / Glass / Page 20 June-July 1994 / American Craft / Page 4 Feb-March 1994 / American Craft / Portfolio Page 58 April-May 1993 / American Craft / Page 12 Oct-Nov 1992 / American Craft / Page 71 Fall 1992 / Glass Spring 1991 / New Glass Review 12 SELECTED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 2012 Instructor at Penland School of Crafts / Penland, NC 2000 Instructor at Penland School of Crafts / Penland, NC 1994 Instructor at Penland School of Crafts / Penland, NC 1991-94 Artist in Residence / Penland School of Crafts / Penland, NC 1989 Artist in Residence / Appalachian Center for Crafts / Smithville, TN
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