In a technologically advanced but energetically challenged Western culture where every second is filled up with data, distraction and noise—both visually, psychologically and spiritually—encountering emptiness can be initially uncomfortable, but ultimately deeply fulfilling. It is in empty spaciousness where subtle energy can be more powerfully revealed and perceived.
As a figurative painter of the human body, Alexandra Becker-Black paints sparingly, using light and shadow as her palette, rather than color. Taking her cues from Picasso who decreed "Art is the elimination of the unnecessary", Becker-Black eliminates extraneous detail, leaving space for the mind of the viewer to expand into. Like a visual Zen koan, the sparse quality of images allow for a deeper presence and a simple, uncontrived "being-ness".
Whether it's in the fluidity of her watercolor paintings, or the stark contrast of her graphite drawings, Alexendra actively embraces emptiness in her work. By embracing a "less is more" philosophy, each piece is made complete through conscious omission of detail. She is inspired by artists such as Manual Neri, Anne Gaile, Picasso, Eric Fischl and Francesca Woodman.
-Uma Kleppinger
The Empty Spaces and Complex Emotions of Alexandra Becker-Black.
Becker-Black has been obsessed with the human form since childhood. One of her earliest memories is that of her drawing a woman’s face. From there, she became interested in the figure. But her artistic calling was not revealed to her in quite that straight-forward a manner as that.
At the beginning, her work was more about the fashion figure where subtle movements, emotions and essence were cloaked beneath layers of clothing and accessories. Then, through her study of yoga, she became interested in anatomy, musculature, and their beauty when in motion.
So she stripped away the camouflage, decorations and colors, and started working with the nude figure in motion, in graphite or in neutral watercolors. Using a camera, live models, lights and a blank white background, she captures those movement that come and go in the blink of an eye, that can imply emotions and actions that statically posed models can not.
Once recorded, she works with the still images but continues to purge from the already naked form, choosing only what she needs and adding only what is absolutely necessary. You see muscles tense and strain against gravity; you see figures in serene repose; you see energy suddenly released when a small flock of birds fly out of a woman’s opened hands. All of this is conjured up in front of your eyes even as a torso fades to gray or a leg disappears, creating work that is ethereal and luminously beautiful, haunting, evocative and complex.
Although ‘simple’ appears again and again in Becker-Black’s own description of her work, there is truly nothing simple in her work or her method. As anyone who has tried to simplify their lives can attest, it is a difficult and complex process to come to an understanding of what we truly need. And at only three years out of Rhode Island School of Design where Becker-Black received her BFA, she has achieved a great deal in her understanding of the often repeated but rarely understood phrase ‘Less is More.‘
-Shu-Ju Wang
e: alexandra@alexandrabeckerblack.com
Gallery 903
Portland, OR, 2010
Kimberly Gales Emerging Artists Scholarship
Portland Open Studios (October 9th, 10th, 16th, 17th, 2010)
In House Gallery
"BUST" solo exhibit, Portland, OR 2010
Rental Sales Gallery
"New Artist Summer Exhibit," Portland, OR 2009
Launch Pad Gallery
First Thursday Open Art Walk
Last Thursday Open Art Walk
Josefa Kate Gallery
ISB Gallery, Providence, RI
Benson Hall Gallery, Providence, RI
Woods Gerry Exhibit, Providence, RI
Community Nonprofit Gallery Exhibit
Rhode Island School of Design
Oregon College of Art and Craft
Pacific Northwest College of Art
Renaissance Painting Italy