Alexandra Becker-Black I aspire to capture and connect with an ethereal beauty that transcends reality. Whether it is a face that dissolves into empty space or a part of the body that emerges from absolutely nowhere. By only painting what needs to be described, I hope to leave it to the viewer to fill in the blanks.
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 cannot.
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
I aspire to capture and connect with an ethereal beauty that transcends reality. Whether it is a face that dissolves into empty space or a part of the body that emerges from absolutely nowhere. By only painting what needs to be described, I hope to leave it to the viewer to fill in the blanks. Beauty, to me is subtle, simple, elegant, and pure, stripped down to reveal the bare essence of what is true. I draw much of my inspiration from Michelangelo’s Unfinished Slaves, where even in their incomplete state the forms quietly emerge out of the marble in a manner that is both mysterious and powerful.
Although color has long been believed to influence emotion throughout the history of art, it does not serve my creative approach. As a figurative painter of the human form, I use the body itself as my emotional medium. So much can be said through gesture. With this minimalist approach, my intension is to create powerful imagery through a pallet of neutral tones. Rather than using color, I utilize the contrast between light and shadow to express feeling through my work.
All things include elements of both yin and yang, as light cannot exist without darkness and darkness cannot exist without light. This dichotomy inspires me to play with the relationship between what is real and what is unimaginable. A woman’s face explodes into delicate flames of paint, while her torso stays completely intact. These seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent. Opposites can only exist in contrast to each other.
Alexandra Becker-Black
2012 – Gallery 903
Solo Exhibit, September 6th, 2012
2012 – Friesen Abmeyer Fine Art
Solo exhibit, June 7th, 2012
2011 – High Desert Gallery
Bend, OR
2011 – Gallery 903
Exhibits monthly every First Thursday (Portland, OR)
2010 – Portland Open Studios
Scholarship winner, Portland, OR
2010 – In House Gallery
“BUST” Solo Exhibition, Portland, OR
2009 – Rental Sales Gallery
“New Artist Summer Exhibit, Portland, OR”
2009 – International Juried Exhibition, “Au Naturel: Nude In The 20th Century”
Art Center Gallery of Clatsop Community College, Astoria, OR
2009 – Launch Pad Gallery
“Portland Love Show,” Portland, OR
2008 – Josefa Kate Gallery
525 NW 10th Avenue Portland, OR
2008 – International Juried Exhibition, “Au Naturel: Nude In The 20th Century”
Art Center Gallery of Clatsop Community College, Astoria, OR
2007 – RISD Alumni Art Sale
Convention Center, Providence RI
2007-09 – First Thursday Open Art Walk
Portland OR, summer
2007-09 – Last Thursday Open Art Walk
Portland OR, summer
2007 – ISB Gallery, Providence, RI
“Untitled,” Illustration group exhibition
2007 – Benson Hall Gallery, Providence, RI
Two person show featuring: Alexandra Becker-Black & Kate Sanders-Fleming
2007 – Woods Gerry Exhibit, Providence, RI
Group Exhibition
2006 – Community Nonprofit Gallery Exhibit
Pearl District, Portland OR, summer
2007 – Rhode Island School of Design- Providence, RI
Bachelors of Fine Arts, Illustration
2002 – Pre College Summer Session – Drawing
2005 – Oregon College of Art and Craft- Portland, OR
Summer Session – Figure Sculpture
2005 – Pacific Northwest College of Art- Portland, OR
Summer Session – Figure Drawing
2005 – Renaissance Painting in Italy
Venice, Florence, and Rome, Italy
RECENT WORK // my most recent pieces
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Where to view my work // Keep updated on where to view my work...New galleries and openings posted here.
Abmeyer + Wood Fine Art
1210 Second Avenue, Seattle, WA 97101
206.628.9501
Gallery 903
903 Northwest Davis Street, Portland, OR
(503) 248-0903
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