To see Peter Beard’s artworks in the flesh is so different from watching them reproduced (no matter how well reproduced). The level of vibration is of course much higher and you can see how multi-dimensional they really are. Not only on the smallest level of additional handwriting on photographs, but in general. Things are added to the surface (blood, items, paper, mementos, drawings and paintings by others etc). But they also contain the extra dimension that is the most important of all: that of emotional tonality.
Currently there is a great show at Guild Hall in East Hampton just outside New York City. Beard, himself being a Montauk institution, belongs in that Long Island/Hamptons context, as he does in many other. Strolling through the exhibition makes me amazed at his consistency in allowing chance and playfulness to play the dominant part, and at how many different environments he has actually passed through with that same approach. Yes, basically he takes great photos of a great life. But the magic lies in how it’s all mixed up in a cauldron of creative super-intuition. From New York 1960s art fun to African wildlife to intimate family life in Montauk; everything and everyone gets treated the same way. Meaning, enhanced in an ever changing potpourri of maximum emotional tonality.
An incredibly great exhibition, to say the least. If you’re in New York, don’t miss it: LAST WORD FROM PARADISE.
Here’s a link to an old review and an interview I did with Beard in New York some ten years ago. Tempus Fugit!
