Our Hands Are Full of Color – Julie Beck

May 17 – August 31, 2019

The subject of Julie Beck’s oil paintings are primarily animals, still life, and the figure. Beck, who lives and works in Boston, creates works that are rendered in striking detail. With the eye of a discerning collector, the artist searches antique stores for unique objects to arrange within her paintings. Beck adds, “I use objects that are loaded with personal meaning—artifacts from my own history or found objects that evoked a particular memory or feeling.”

Beck often combines unexpected elements in her portraits. While her sitters are rendered in a realist manner, she employs a more whimsical approach and expressive treatment in the background. For example, in Optical Delusion, the young woman’s facial features and clothing are carefully modeled, while the background is an array of expressive colored brushstrokes that seem to move behind the figure.

 

Julie Beck (American, born 1981)
Creation of Eve, 2018
Oil on canvas

Courtesy of the artist