Artist Information

Robert Beckmann

"I tried to capture the desert light of course, but I also wanted to put you, the spectator, there."

As a painter, I found myself regularly drawn to the horizontal format. This usually means "landscape" and especially the Nevada landscape.

I often work from photo sources. Some of these are historic images, other people's photography. "The Body of a House" series, in the collection of the Nevada Museum of Art, was based on still frames from historic footage taken at The Nevada Test Site during the 1950's. 180 degrees from those pictures are the source photos for the series here. I did the photography while hiking through the Las Vegas Wash and the images are benign, perhaps some are even bucolic.

The choice of pigments I used and my handling reinforces this mood. I tried to capture the desert light of course, but I also wanted to put you, the spectator, "there", into a meditative place, by using a freer, more spontaneous approach than simple documentation or mimesis might warrant.

All 10 artwork(s) by Robert Beckmann

A Stretch Of Serenity	After Cezanne	Cool Cliffs	Cool Morning
Golden Time	Grand Tree	Into The Lake	Red Cliff
Sky Scape	The Oxbow