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empowerment." Unfettered by the male gaze, they exude an
unmistakable air of sophistication and knowing worldliness, an
autonomous point of view.
Having said in the past that she's not one to wait for inspiration,
Beeman actively mines the public library for books on art and art
history, and the results frequently appear in her work: the floral motifs
of Georgia O'Keeffe or the abstract shapes of Alexander Calder, the
cold hue of Picasso's Blue Period or the stateliness iconicity of
Byzantine religious figures. (The piano, too, is a recurring figure.
Beeman keeps an upright piano in her studio, "and I play (and sing)
for at least a couple hours every day when I need a break from
painting," she says.)
As for the protagonists themselves, adds Beeman, "Most of the
time they are not anyone in particular, but they're often inspired by
people I know or have known in the past. I try to create multilayered
subjects determined by context—the surface details, objects, places,
backgrounds and clothes—and then there's a layer beneath all of that,
which is much harder to describe."
Clockwise from top: Woman in
Jason Wu Dress, with Vase of
Purple Flowers, 2017; the cover
of Beeman's new book "Window
Shopping;" Boy in a Pool, 2017.
