A THOUSAND WORDS

STORY & PAINTING BY ROBERT BECK

APPREHENSION

YOU TAKE SPECIFIC NOTICE of a policeman when one is in your field of vision, or at least I do, and I don’t think I’m much different than you. That’s by design, so seeing the cop wasn’t unusual in itself. I drove along the strip center parking lot looking for an open space near the drug store, and I saw the policeman walk up the steps to the sidewalk in front of the shops. I figured he was going to get something at one of them: a cup of coffee, a slice of pizza, a prescription. I like it when I see cops as people rather than cops as cops. That gives me a sound feeling. It’s good for everybody.

I found a spot across from the pharmacy and got out of the car. I looked both ways and then up to the sidewalk and front door, and there was the policeman. He had just gotten a man’s attention and was asking him a question. It’s branded in my mind. The policeman’s navy blue slacks, shirt, and hat, with touches of yellow. The man wearing all black. Tight pants, bulky leatherlike jacket, glints of

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Robert Beck’s focus is on our here and now. A leading voice in the art community, his paintings have been featured in more than seventy juried and thirty solo gallery shows, and three solo museum exhibitions. His writing in ICON has been a reader favorite for seventeen years.

exhibitions

Devyn Briggs

Art In The Park

West Park, 16th & West Turner Sts., Allentown Westpark-ca.org/art September 17, 10–5

Art In The Park is a day-long festival where more than five dozen artists and crafters display their works in Allentown’s beautiful and historic West Park. This free festival will include demonstrations by a portrait artist, a potter, a woodworker, and other artisans. There will be performances at the bandshell by Allentown Band (America’s oldest concert band), students from Community Music School of Allentown, and members of Repertory Dance Theatre of the Lehigh Valley. Food from Church of the Mediator will be available adjacent to the Park. Supported by West Park Civic Association and organized by Alan Younkin and Michael Schelp.

Jeff Wetherhold

Gregory Luisi

Swan Boat Gallery 69 Bridge Street, Lambertville NJ 518- 567-5446 SwanBoatGallery.com Thurs–Sunday, 1–4, and by appointment Through August

Gregory Luisi is a painter of great intensity both psychologically and philosophically. He addresses the question of what is real and what is illusion. His sense of color and light are as though the viewer is looking through a magic prism. Vibrant and subdued hues balance work in his still life and portraits. His work has been shown in many Manhattan and New Jersey galleries and museums.

The Swan Boat Gallery exhibits modern and contemporary art from artists around the world with diverse backgrounds and styles. Its mission is to present a cultural center with poetry readings, artist talks, art for kids and other events.

Starstruck: An American Tale

Lehigh University Art Galleries (LUAG) 420 E Packer Ave., Bethlehem, PA 610-758-3615 luag.org September 6–December 3

LUAG is pleased to present a new, site-specific multimedia work by internationally renowned visual artist Shimon Attie.

Invited to create a new body of work as Lehigh University’s Horger Artist-in-Residence (2021-22) in the Department of Art, Architecture and Design, Attie has created an artwork which interrogates Bethlehem’s past and present as a microcosm of America.

The completed artwork is a hybrid video and sculptural installation which juxtaposes and examines Bethlehem’s past and present. The piece comprises a central sculpture centered between two channels of synchronized video. The sculpture is inspired by the existing 90-foot-tall brightly lit Bethlehem Star on Bethlehem’s South Mountain, built by the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce in 1937 as a commercially-minded endeavor to brand Bethlehem as The Christmas City. The Star on the hill is brightly lit in “Christmas white” and on a clear evening is visible for 60 miles.

All photos: Video still from installation, Shimon Attie, 2022