Donna Bassin scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land and what are some of the ideas that you hope to explore in the future? Donna Bassin: I will continue working on the Environmental Melancholia series and expand the project to create a limited-edition artist book. More visual ideas will emerge as I continue to develop this series and immerse myself in the practices and challenges of environmental activism. I have more environments I want to photograph, including landscapes with ancient ruins, to draw an equivalence between the fall of civilizations and the collapse of nature. I am currently collecting miniature plastic replicas of nature’s components, trees, mountains, flora and fauna, and animals, and I envision constructing mini-landscapes to photograph made entirely of plastic. I am also working on a very personal project: an engagement with my deceased parents around their global travels. I inherited a collection of my father’s Kodachrome slides and am now “collaborating” with his photographic work. I don’t yet know where it will go but that is one of the pleasures of making art. An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator [email protected] from the Precious Scars series from the Precious Scars series
Hello Beki and welcome to LandEscape. Before starting to elaborate about your artistic production and we would like to invite our readers to visit http://dev.bekiborman.com in order to get a wide idea about your multifaceted artistic production, and we would start this interview with a couple of questions about your background. You have a solid formal training and you hold a BFA in Painting from The Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design: how do these formative years influence your evolution as an artist? Moreover, how does your cultural substratum address the direction of your For me the landscape is the most accessible subject of the natural world. It has shaped our understanding of visual order. When I look at a landscape my mind instantly begins to evaluate its design. I lay out the big shapes, patterns of color, and areas of contrast. My interest is not in recreating the scene, but rather in learning from its aesthetic. I use a painting knife as my primary tool to create a textured surface that describes the vast color experience of a landscape from afar but up close supports the objective nature of paint. Through layering I seek out a nuanced variety in mark making which speaks to the subtle experiences of space and light An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator [email protected] Land scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW LandEscape meets Beki Borman Beki Borman was born and raised in the Milwaukee area of Wisconsin. She attended the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design where she received her BFA in painting in 2004. Since graduating, Beki has exhibited her work both locally and nationally. For Beki's studio work she paints colorful and textural abstract landscapes in oil and acrylics using a combination of painting knife and brush techniques. Some of her influences include Vincent Van Gogh, Wolf Kahn, and Wayne Thiebaud. Beki works out of her studio in Waukesha.
current artistic research? Beki Borman: The experience of a 4 year art school brought a number of things to my practice. Aside from foundational drawing and painting development, the exposure to other artists, ideas, and media fostered a framework within which to scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition Golden Dawn, acrylic on panel, 20” x 20”, $800
decide what type of artist I wanted to be. Required humanities courses in science and philosophy attached their ideas to my work and continue to influence it today. The body of works that we have selected for this special edition of LandEscape and that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of Beki Borman scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Headed South, acrylic on canvas, 20’’ x 20’’
this article, has at once captured our attention for the way it de-constructs the idea of landscape, to unveil the connection between the act of painting and the aesthetics of natural world: when walking our readers through your usual setup and process, would you tell us how did you develop the idea of Chromascapes? Beki Borman: As is often the case, my work became more abstract with time. I have always been influenced by nature and have spent years creating paintings in oil, acrylic, watercolor, and pastel of landscapes. Before long I realized I care much more about composition and color play than representation. Hence, rather then being landscapes they seemed to me to be “color scapes” or “chromascapes” as I have come to call them. We have appreciated the intense and at the same time thoughtful nuances that marks out Golden Dawn. With their apparent essentiality, your artworks are meticolously structured and marked out with unique combination between rigorous sense of geometry and precise choice of tones, able to provide your works with recognizable visual identity. How does your own psychological make-up determine the nuances of tones that you decide to include in your artworks and how do you develop your textures in order to achieve such unique results? Beki Borman: I have always worked quickly and intuitively. I use a painting knife almost scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition
Beki Borman scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Rooftop Magic, acrylic on canvas, 30” x 40”, $1200
scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition Afterglow, acrylic on canvas, 30” x 40”, $1200
Beki Borman scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land exclusively to build up and scrape down layers. I t is an investigative process spent looking for the image through creation and destruction. As you have remarked once, you are passionate about art being accessible, and that your goal is to guide the viewers in discovering their own vision. How important is for you to address your audience to elaborate personal interpretations? In particular, is important for you to tell something that might walk the viewers through their visual experience? Beki Borman: I think my primary goal is an aesthetic one. I want to take viewers to an orchestrated world of color, shape, and texture. The landscape aspect adds a ground or vantage point for the viewer to enter from. Artists invent their own languages to describe their ivisual interpretation of the world. I hope that viewers will come to understand mine. With their unique sense of geometry, Waterways and Plains seem to unveil the bridge between the real and the imagined, inviting the viewers to appreciate all the beauty that surrounds us. Scottish painter Peter Doig once remarked that even the most realistic paintings are derived more from within the head than from what's out there in front of us, how do you consider the relationship between reality and imagination, playing within your artistic production?
Waterways, Acrylic on canvas, 30” x 40”, $1300
scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition Beki Borman: I would very much agree with Doig on that point. Whether realistic or abstract, all art is made through the filters of our minds. I think that all art is inherently and abstraction, it’s just a matter of degree and intention. Some of your works — as the interesting New Mexico — are marked out with large dimension that provide your spectatorship with such immersive visual experience: how do the dimensions of your pieces affect your workflow? Beki Borman: Scale has been a constant question for me. I love the power of a large, immersive canvas to transport us to a world that humbles us. Horizon lines and the distance between us and them are very important to how my work describes the viewer’s sense of place. That being said, I also make many small works. I love the contrast the small works provide with intimacy, subtlety, and simplicity. They are like peeking through a small window rather than standing on a cliff. As you have remarked in your artist's statement, your interest is not in recreating the scene but rather in learning from its aesthetic. How do your memories and your everyday life's experience fuel your creative process? Beki Borman: I grew up and still reside in America’s Midwest. My experience is endless plains, changing seasons, and the Great Lakes. The lakes and plains provide many vast distant views of the horizon. Plains, Acrylic on canvas, 24” x 35.5”
The seasons provide me changing colors and shapes. You are an established artist and since graduating you have exhibited both Beki Borman scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land
Climbing, acrylic on canvas, 11’’ x 14’’
locally and nationally: how do you consider the nature of your relationship with your audience? By the way, as the move of Art from traditional gallery scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition
spaces, to street and especially to online platforms — as Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bekipaintland — increases, how would in your opinion change the relationship with a globalised audience? Beki Borman: I have done traditional galleries, fairs, and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/bekipaintland. One thing I love about fairs and IG is that they make art more accessible. As many know, galleries can be intimidating. Online platforms give everyone a chance to be seen and approached. The main downside of course is that painting is usually better experienced in real lifer. Textures and brushstrokes are easily lost. (This is why I do not do prints.). But any chance to reach people and foster art experience is a good one. We have really appreciated the multifaceted nature of your artistic research and before leaving this stimulating conversation we would like to thank you for chatting with us and for sharing your thoughts, Beki. What projects are you currently working on, and what are some of the ideas that you hope to explore in the future? Beki Borman: I am currently (as this is early summer) working on a number of small works for outdoor fairs and festivals. However, I have a few larger canvases waiting for me and expect to be tackling them soon. zI currently am continuing to build up my freelance teaching practice. I travel to several locations for workshops, run classes out of my studio, take on private students, and even offer online options. Beki Borman scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land