Alex Beck (Photo by Ash Daniel)
While Alex Beck has enjoyed success as an artist using Instagram as his primary platform for exhibition, it’s impossible to truly appreciate the scale, depth and impact of his work when viewing it on a smartphone or a computer screen. Still, that hasn’t stopped him from amassing more than 46,000 followers and generating about 90 percent of his income from selling his paintings through the network. Locally, he is also represented by Glavé Kocen Gallery.
Beck received his B.A. in illustration from Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. A native of Northern Virginia, he moved to Richmond about two and a half years ago after meeting acclaimed Richmond illustrator Sterling Hundley while attending the Illustration Academy in Kansas City, Missouri. “He is a goldmine of information,” Beck says. “I wanted to learn from him.” Beck is passing on his own knowledge of art by teaching undergraduate studio classes at VCUarts.
Although Beck’s education has focused on illustration, he has moved away from the discipline in favor of a less literal form of painting. “I am not a storyteller,” he says. “I paint mood.”
Beck considers himself to be a “gestural realist.”
“I exploit realism in a way I can completely destroy it,” he explains. “ ‘Gestural realist’ leaves a lot open to interpretation.”
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“Birthday Kiss,” 24 by 24 inches, oil on panel
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“Steed,” 24 by 24 inches, oil on panel
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“Everything Is Here,” 18 by 18 inches, gouache on panel
Beck uses old photographs as the starting point for much of his work, and he is especially drawn to those shot on Kodachrome film from the 1960s. He looks for photos that are a little “off,” rather than searching for the perfect composition. His Instagram followers send him photos, or he picks them up in thrift stores. He says he has even traded paintings for photo albums full of vintage shots.
He blends these found images with things he has observed in real life, and with his imagination. “I try to combine all three,” he says. “It is good to exercise all three parts of your brain.”
The resulting work depicts familiar imagery set in an unfamiliar context, with layers of arresting color. Beck’s underlying talent as a realistic illustrator is undeniable. The work is not quite narrative, but each piece evokes a specific mood and begs the question: Just what is going on here?
“I want to give someone the complete picture with one missing puzzle piece,” he says. “I want to keep them there, to keep them looking so that you don’t completely understand.” See Beck’s work on Instagram at @alex_the_beck.
