EDWARD BEKKERMAN
Biography
EDWARD BEKKERMAN (b. 1958) received artistic training at the Arts Students League, New York. An extensive one-man show of his work was held at the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg in 1994. Edward Bekkerman participated in a group exhibition entitled Talent, at the Alan Stone Gallery, NY and traveling exhibition entitled Jesus Christ in Christian Art and Culture
Edward Bekkerman also participated in the following exhibitions:
Solo Exhibitions
- 2015
- Beyond Dreams, Moscow MOMA
- 2009
- Spirits, Barry Friedman Gallery, New York
- 2006
- 2004
- Dreams, The Abud Family Foundation for the Arts, Princeton, NJ
- 1999
- Fantastische Blumen (Fantastic Flowers), Gallery Lange, Bonn, Germany
- 1995
- Faces, Eastwick Art Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- 1994
- Guardians of the Soul, paintings and drawings, State Russian Museum, Marble Palace,
- St. Petersburg, Russia, catalog published
- 1991
- Paintings, Sculptures and Drawings, Prince Art Gallery, New York City, USA
Group Exhibitions
- 2016
- Museo Ruso, Málaga, Spain. Resistance, Tradition and Discovery in Russian Art, Second part of 20th Century – Begining of the 21st Century.
- Manege Museum and Exhibition Unit, Moscow, Russia. From Borovikovsky to Kabakov.
- ABA Gallery collection
- 2014
- Finding Freedom in Russian Art, 1961-2014. Selections from the Kolodzei Art Foundation and the Collection of Dr. Wayne F. Yakes. Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum, Lafayette, Louisiana.
- 2013
- Concerning the Spiritual Tradition in Russian Art. 1961 – 2011. Selections from the Kolodzei Art Foundation. The Museum of Russian Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota
- 2011, 2012, 2013
- Exhibition at ABA Gallery, New York
- 2011
- Concerning the Spiritual Tradition in Russian Art. Selections from the Kolodzei Art Foundation. Chelsea Art Museum, New York
- 2010 Guilin Art Museum, Guilin, Guangxi, China
- Exhibition at ACA Gallery, New York
- 2009
- Russian Art, MOMA Moscow, Russia, ABA Gallery, New York City, USA, sponsored by HSBC Bank, catalogue published
- 2008
- Balleto Russo, Armonia International Foundation of Arts, Gaeta, Italy, book published
- The Power of Water, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia, book published
- 2007
- Landscapes, Gallery Burkhard Eikelmann, Dusseldorf, Germany
- 2006
- Dreams, Interart Gallery, New York (two man show)
- 2005
- Collage in the 20th Century, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
- 2003
- Paintings of Angels, Lincoln Center, New York
- 2003
- Christo, Retretti Art Centre, Punkaharju, Finland
- 2002
- Art & Religion in Russia, Gemeentemuseum, Hague, Netherlands
- 2000
- Jesus Christ in Christian Art and Culture 14th – 20th Centuries, Antico Monastero di Santa Chiara, San Marino, Italy, book published
- 1999
- Abschied vom 20. Jahrhundert (Goodbuy to the 20th Century), Ballhaus im Nordpak, Dusseldorf, Germany
- 1996
- The Reflex Miniature Museum of Contemporary Art, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- 1995
- Talent, Allan Stone Gallery, New York City, USA
Edward Bekkerman’s work can be found in the permanent collection of the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg; Museum of Miniature Art in Amsterdam, Moscow MOMA and in many prominent private and corporate collections worldwide.
Essays
“All that is solid melts into air,” in the ephemeral world of Edward Bekkerman’s “Dream” and “Spirit” paintings, abstract-looking images that are in fact as richly and minutely detailed as an illuminated manuscript penned by a Medieval monk. Rather than the common interpretation of this phrase made famous by Marx—which continues, “all that is holy is profaned” —Bekkerman’s work expresses precisely the opposite, discovering the mystical in the otherwise ordinary, transmogrifying superficial reality into a spirit world.
Phoebe Hoban
Phoebe Hoban is a New York-based writer who covers art and culture for a variety of publications.
Her biography of the artist Alice Neel, Alice Neel: The Art of Not Sitting Pretty, was published by St. Martin’s Press in December, 2010.
Her biography of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Basquiat: A Quick Killing in Art, was published by Viking/Penguin in 1998.
Her biography of Lucian Freud, Lucian Freud: Eyes Wide Open, was published by Amazon and Houghton Mifflin (New Harvest) in 2014
The paintings of Edward Bekkerman maintain an interiority whose vertical forms, are at once abstract and strangely human. Bekkerman offers his audience these presences as a means of communicating with an ethereal world in which the shapes of angels and people seem to have been merged into a single gestalt.
Jonathan Goodman
Art critic, professor at Prague University, professor at Parsons The New School For Design
As a creative personality, Edward Bekkerman has developed along the lines of classical modernism. He creates and inhabits his own world. He does not regard matters of self-expression as an excuse for irony. He does not ask the public to play along with him or solve intellectual crosswords; what he demands is fully-fledged emotional contact. Even in his behavior, he adheres to the mythology of modernism (which the classics of modernism have themselves already broken, appearing in the role of newsmakers). He is a solitary artist, an individualist far removed from the professional environment and little concerned about public relations or his relationship with the establishment. While such a stance might be regarded as archaic, experience shows that it always incorporates great potential topicality. In Bekkerman’s case, it is wholly natural. His art is foreordained to be understood.
Alexander D. Borovsky
Head of the Department of Contemporary Art
State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Arworks
- Guardians
- Angels
- Faces
- Flowers
- Hats
- Spirits & Dreams
- Victories
- Drawings
Contact
E-mail. sonya@vidyaart.com
Location. ABA Gallery. 47 East 19th Street New York, NY 10003.
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