Artist’s Statement
Vision and Process in Ambiguous Abstraction
Vision is born of the art historical perspective, knowing where we have come from and imagining where we are going.
We learned in the early 20th century that painting is nothing more than arranging color, line and form on a flat plane.
Nothing more?! Thanks a lot!!!
Since the Abstract Expressionist movement completed the process of moving painting away from representationalism, many artists have considered subject matter, if there is any, as simply a framework to hang the act of painting on.
I paint “Ambiguous Abstraction.” A response to the post – abstract expressionist art world.
Abstraction is, of course, inherently ambiguous.
I look for “poetics of painting” that combine both the gestural and the decorative, process and the subconscious. I paint a hybrid of the hand, heart, mind and design.
My paintings must be sufficiently dynamic to intrigue a lively, curious mind. They must be attractive enough to serve as decoration in order to attract a buyer. They must be sufficiently complex to sustain interest over countless viewings: i.e., they must be “livable,” or “alive.”
My color choices, which I use as the primary means of composition, are chosen to be both beautiful and provocative. “Who paints with a pink like this pink?”
The arbitrary framing of my paintings must nevertheless cohere into a visual whole so that they do not fly off the page or simply reproduce like wallpaper.
At some point in the act of painting – an act which may have begun with process – the intuitive Self takes over and the eye-heart-hand responds spontaneously to what is already laid down.
This, then, is also Vision. The intellection of art history has been internalized and the painting proceeds smoothly without thought; decisions occur automatically.
CV
Fred Voigt Becker voigtzen@outlook.com
Education:
2023 Art Students League of Denver, Monoprint Workshop with Joe Higgins
1983 University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Business Administration
1982 Virginia Commonwealth University, Business Administration
1977 Virginia Commonwealth University, Painting and Printmaking
1972 Sociedade Brasileira de Belas Artes, Summer Exchange Student Workshops, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Solo Exhibitions:
June 2023, “Generative,” Gallery 931, Denver, CO, with Mark Brasuell
December 2022, Edgewater Library, Edgewater, CO, curated by Erin Mulrooney
September 2022 “Color Fields,” D’art Gallery, Gallery East, Denver, CO
June 2022, “Original Nature,” Core New Art Space, Lakewood, CO, with Robert Davis Garner
May 2022 “Cut from a Cloth,” Nine repurposed paintings, at Awake Denver
September 2021, “Inviolable Work,” D’art Gallery, Gallery East, Denver, CO
March,2021 “Paintings that Paint Themselves,” Core New Art Space, Lakewood, CO, with Robert Davis Garner
Group Exhibitions:
August 2023, “On Edge,” at Edge Gallery, Lakewood, Co, juried by Annie Geimer
June 2023 Prism Workspaces Open House
June 2023, “I Sing the Body Electric” at the Lab on Santa Fe, Denver, CO
May 2023, “Flower Power,” Core Art Space, Lakewood, CO, juried by Michael Paglia
March 2023, “Rose Colored Glasses” at Core Art Space, Lakewood, CO
January 2023, “Coolfax on Colfax,” at Core Art Space, Lakewood, CO
December 2022, “All In,” Member’s Show at Sync Gallery, Denver, CO
November 2022, Prism Workspaces Open House
June, 2022, Prism Workspaces Open House
May 2022 “Sprig Break” at Core Art Space, Lakewood, CO
March 2022 “Reverse Image” at Spark Gallery, Denver, CO. In conjunction with Mo’Print, the Month of Printmaking.
January 2022, Member’s Show at Sync Gallery, Denver, CO
January 2022, Member’s Show at Core New Art Space, Lakewood, CO
September 2021 “Lost and Found” at Core Art Space, Lakewood, CO
September 2021 “37th All Colorado” Depot Art Gallery, Littleton, CO
Spring, 2021 “Resilience” Colorado Mills Shopping Mall, sponsored by 40W Arts Council
May 2021 “1000 Words” at Core Art Space, Lakewood, CO
March 2021 “Syncopation 2021” Sync Gallery, Denver, CO
September 2020 “Breaking Point” Next Gallery, Denver, CO
June 2020 “Meaning in Abstraction” R Gallery, Boulder, CO
June 2020 “Spot On” D’Art Gallery, Denver, CO
February 2020 “Syncopation 2020” Sync Gallery, Denver, CO
Memberships:
2020 -Present, Core Art Space, Lakewood, CO
2022- Present, Art Students League of Denver
2020-22, Sync Gallery, Denver, CO
Collected Works:
Nature of Wind Series #3, Color Enhanced Serigraph, 23 x 29 inches, collection of Evan Kiesow, 2023
Map of The Nation, Oil on Canvas, 48 x 48 inches, collection of Brian Schat and Jennifer Reinbrecht, 2023
No Other Self, Oil on Panel, 35 x 60 inches, collection of Zen Center of Denver, 2022
Yes, No, Yes, Oil on Canvas, 72 x 72 inches, collection of Amli Arts District Apartments, purchased by Studio R Consultants, 2022
Gesture, Oil on Panel, 20 x24 inches, collection of Kathleen Turco Lyon, NYC, 2022
No Corridor, Oil on Panel, 20 x 24 inches, collection of Andy Rieach, 2022
Nagarjuna’s Tetralemma, Oil on Panel, 48 x 72 inches, collection of Margaret Hunt, 2022
Reflection and Wonder, Oil on Panel, 45 x 60 inches, collection of Dr. Jennifer Armstrong, 2022
Mad Rush, Color Enhanced Serigraph, 18 x 24 inches unframed, collection of Dr. Gregory Clark, PHD, 2021
Tierra Amarilla, Oil on Canvas, 48 x 62 inches, collection of David and Lynne Lee, 2021
Commissions:
PS Art Consulting: Chasing Sunlight Dragons, 33 x 33 inches, oil on panel, for Kaiser Permanente, Denver, CO, November 2022
Lewis Art Consulting:
November 2022, Nature of Wind Archetype
Stadium Parts
Hunter Gatherer,
Licensed limited reproduction rights for Spectrum Granite Place
October 2022, Conservation and Excavation
Licensed limited reproduction rights for VMG
About
Fred lives and paints in Denver, Colorado. He studied painting and printmaking at Virginia Commonwealth University in the 70’s. Themes from the lexicon of Zen are reflected in his work, and in that spirit, his work lies between reification and chaos.
Fred became a trucker after college, and true to the warning of one of his professors, “pushing those old trucks down the highway” took him away. Despite this pushing, his artistic fire was never extinguished, and he would make a painting every couple of years. Now, in this stage of life Fred has found his artistic drive. How can he resolve, albeit temporarily, the dilemma of color, shape, and line on a flat plane?
Fred’s years over the road inform his paintings in much the same way as his Zen practice. Inside the images he creates are a cacophony of lights and colors rushing by. His large paintings reflect open spaces viewed from a high mountain pass, and many hours with the road atlas lend his work an aerial mapping quality complete with fields, roads, rivers and events.
