Edward
Bekkerman
Since the late eighties and for more than thirty-five years, Edward Bekkerman (B. 1958) has explored the other-worldly through figuration, abstraction, and a conscious and subconscious play between both. Inspired by all that is spiritual, from angels and flowers to guardians, spirits, and dreams, his themes and fantastical compositions, drawn from other dimensions with coexisting realistic and abstract elements, create a visual language and imaginary landscape entirely his own, eliciting a sense of wonder at his sacred worlds, totems, dynamic, reverent, hidden worlds. His oeuvre resists categorization, the use of free association and allusive symbolism enhances the rawness of his mythology, and his use of color and complex painterly techniques only reveal themselves at close inspection.
Edward Bekkerman received artistic training at the Arts Students League, New York. His upcoming exhibition entitled The Song of Psyche: Corners of a Soul's Otherworlds opens on November 25th, 2023, at Shtager&Shch, a central London-based contemporary art gallery specializing in emerging and innovative artists. An extensive solo one-person show of his work was most recently held at The Osthaus Museum in Hagen, Germany, in 2022-2023. In 2017, his traveling exhibition Heaven took place at the Sochi Art Museum and The State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. In 2015, Beyond Dreams was exhibited at Moscow MOMA, and Guardians of the Soul was shown at the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, in 1994. Edward Bekkerman participated in a group exhibition, Talent at the Alan Stone Gallery, NY, and the traveling show Jesus Christ in Christian Art and Culture. He is represented by ABA Gallery, New York. Bekkerman's work is found in numerous museums, corporations, and private collections.
Edward Bekkerman Solo Exhibitions:
2022 Edward Bekkerman: Labyrinths of Love, Osthaus-Museum Hagen, Germany, September 17, 2022 - January 8, 2023.
2019 Edward Bekkerman: One Man Show, ABA Gallery, New York
2017 Heaven, The State Russian Museum, Strogonovsky palace, St. Petersburg, Russia
2017 Edward Bekkerman: One Man Show, ABA Gallery, New York
2017 Heaven, Sochi Art Museum, Sochi, Russia
2015 Edward Bekkerman: One Man Show, ABA Gallery, New York
2015 Beyond Dreams, at Moscow MOMA
2012 Edward Bekkerman: One Man Show, ABA Gallery, New York
2009 Exhibition at Barry Friedman Gallery, New York
2006 Dreams and Prophets, Gallery Edge, St Petersburg, Russia
Spirits of New York, TAMA Gallery, New York
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:
2017 Osthaus Museum Hagen, Germany (December)
2017 Masterpieces of Russian Art, Malii Manege Exhibition House, Moscow, Russia (October-November)
2017 Hands, ACA Gallery, New York (October)
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.