captures the most universal perceptive parameters of the viewers, communicating such deep sense of harmony. When walking our readers through the genesis of your works, would you tell us something about your usual setup and process? Ali Khorshidpour: Working with black on a white background has fascinated me for years and I have created paintings in this way in the past, of which I can mention a few examples from 2010 (Images number 1, 2 and 3). I think one of the reasons for this interest of mine goes back to my professional activity as a graphic designer, which has caused me to naturally deal with black color a lot. Basically, black is a widely used color in graphic art and graphic design. For example, in various printmaking techniques such as etching, lithography, linocut and woodcut, mostly black ink is used for printing. Also, due to technical reasons, the logo, logotype and typeface must be designed in black on a white background at first. And dealing with black color a lot over the years has made me quite comfortable and familiar with the black and white space. Ali Khorshidpour scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Untitled 15.3 x 19.9 cm 2020 Black ink on white paper Untitled 15.3 x 19.9 cm 2020 Black ink on white paper
Untitled 20 x 30 cm 2017 Oil on HPL
scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition But these geometric works in particular are in black and white because what is essential in them is only the absolute form and I believe that chromatic colors attract the viewer's attention, causing less attention to the form. In addition, chromatic colors create more complex feelings and emotions in the viewer, while in these works, my goal is to express simplicity and purity. The process of creating these black and white geometric works is that first, I roughly mark the white areas of the composition with black ink on a white paper. In this step, I use the whiteness of the paper itself for the white areas. Then I gradually define the shape and size of each white area more precisely. After defining these areas, I completely cover the rest of the paper with black ink (Images number 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 and 11). I then carefully evaluate the work. After the composition is finalized, I make a detailed geometric drawing of it (Images number 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18). Meticolously refinished in their details, your artworks — have struck us for the way you Untitled 15.3 x 19.9 cm 2019 Black ink on white paper Untitled 15.3 x 19.9 cm 2019 Black ink on white paper
Untitled 15.3 x 19.9 cm 2019 Black ink on white paper
Untitled 115 x 155 cm 2022 Digital drawing for final production
sapiently conveyed rigorous sense of geometry with such unique refined aesthetics: how do you consider the role of details within your artistic practice? Ali Khorshidpour: The role of details in this collection of geometric works is very important because it is these details that make the character of each of the white forms and determine the type of their relationship in interaction with each other and with the entire negative space of the work. If the smallest change is given in the details of the shape, size, angle and position of each of these forms, this harmony and the desired visual relationship that currently exists between the forms in my opinion will no longer exist. In fact, from my point of view, each of these geometric works is like a visual melody in a way that each of the white forms is like a musical note that has its own tone and sound, and by putting these different notes together, a short melody is created. This melody is played in absolute silence because the color black in these works can evoke absolute silence. If we Ali Khorshidpour scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Untitled 115 x 155 cm 2022 Digital drawing for final production Untitled 115 x 155 cm 2022 Digital drawing for final production
look at these works in this way, it should be said that these are the details that make the special tone and sound of each note. Your artworks often feature such monochromatic visual quality: would you tell us something about your aesthetic decisions? Ali Khorshidpour: The only reason why most of my paintings and drawings are monochromatic is that form and composition are much more important to me than color. We highly appreciate the way the minimalistic aspect of your works address your audience to dive into the sphere of imagination, helping them to discover its connections with ordinary life. 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? Ali Khorshidpour: Thank you very much. This reminds me of what Edgar Degas said: “It is all very well to copy what one sees, but it is far better to draw what one now only sees in one's memory. That is a transformation in which imagination collaborates with memory.” I also completely agree with Peter Doig's opinion because an artist who tries to represent reality in his work sees reality from his own point of view anyway. In fact, everything that man creates is based on the idea that he had in his mind at the beginning. For example, an architect imagines a building - which has not yet been built - in his mind and thinks about its details and draws its plan and then builds it. Therefore, the main source of all human creations is his thought and imagination. As for me, all my drawings and paintings are created based on my mental imagination, and in fact, they are my artistic inferences from reality, which are mostly on the border between abstraction and reality. In some of them, the realistic aspect is seen, and in others, the abstract aspect is more visible. You are a versatile artist and your works conveysuch stimulating visual ambivalence, scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition Untitled 115 x 155 cm 2022 Digital drawing for final production
Untitled 115 x 155 cm 2022 Digital drawing for final production
Untitled 115 x 155 cm 2022 Digital drawing for final production
able to walk the viewers to develop personal visual grammars. In this sense, we daresay that your artistic production aims to urge the spectatorship to a participative effort, to realize their own interpretation. Austrian Art historian Ernst Gombrich once remarked the importance of providing a space for the viewers to project onto, so that they can actively participate in the creation of the illusion: how important is for you to trigger the viewers' imagination in order to address them to elaborate personal interpretations? In particular, how open would you like your works to be understood? Ali Khorshidpour: You mentioned the right point. Yes, in my works I always tend to perfect the form in terms of a minimalist aesthetic while working in a way that leaves the understanding of the subject of the artwork to the viewer's imagination. In this way, the form does not sacrifice the subject and the viewer actively participates in the understanding of the artwork. It is important for me that my works have the ability to imagine. Marked out with balanced sense of geometry, your works feature recurrent sharp contours that we dare say essential on the visual aspect. Would you tell us something about such refined geometric feeling? Ali Khorshidpour: According to the German architect, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, "less is more". My approach in these works has been the maximum refinement of the real subject in terms of form. In addition, as I have already explained about the reason why these works are black and white, my goal is to express simplicity and purity, and in order to achieve this goal, while choosing a suitable color space, I also simplify the forms as much as necessary. As a result, I have reached geometric shapes. For this reason, the forms are worked geometrically and with sharp corners to evoke simplicity and purity. Furthermore, by using geometric shapes, I can precisely control the visual impact and how the forms interact with each other and with the negative space. Regarding the recurrent sharp contours, as I mentioned before about the musical aspect of these works, I intended to create a visual rhythm through repetition that evokes a musical feeling in the viewer. How do you consider the role of chance and improvisation playing within your artistic process? In particular, what role does play intuition in the composition of your pallette? Ali Khorshidpour: The fact is that improvisation is true of all my drawings and paintings. That is, I always start working with the motivation of an inner passion and without any sketches. At the beginning of the work, I don't even have any idea in my mind about what image I will draw. Therefore, I only start working with passion, which is very important in the final result of the work. It has been proven to me many times that whenever I have started without passion, the result of the work has not been satisfactory from my point of view, even if I have spent a lot of time on it. So my method is that I just start working and after a few minutes the Ali Khorshidpour scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land
intuition comes. From that point on, I gradually shape that intuition and then complete the final form and composition with great sensitivity. But the interesting experience I have about these black and white geometric works is that during the creation of these works, due to the great mental concentration I have for composition and also the influence of black and white colors and the minimalist space, I naturally enter a completely cozy, quiet mental space. I feel safe and calm and experience absolute solitude. Therefore, I can say that each of these works is the result of a kind of meditation. You are an established artist: your artworks have been published in more than 25 local and international books and catalogs and two books of your selected graphic design works have been published: how do you consider the nature of your relationship with your audience? As the move of Art from traditional gallery spaces, to street and especially to online platforms — as Instagram — increases, how would in your opinion change the relationship with a globalised audience? Ali Khorshidpour: Although the quality of visiting the physical reality of a work of art in a traditional gallery is different from visiting the same work in an online gallery, online platforms have unique features that make them very different. On online platforms, visitors can visit their favorite works of art at any hour of the day and night, from anywhere in the world, without time and geographical restrictions, and in any traffic and weather conditions. In this way, the difficulties and limitations of visiting traditional galleries have been removed. In my case, as an artist, for example, I can share my latest works instantly on my Instagram page with a large number of viewers worldwide. Therefore, I can have a much easier, faster and wider relationship with the audience, and this is a wonderful possibility. https://www.instagram.com/khorshidpour.ali 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, Ali. What projects are you currently working on, and what are some of the ideas that you hope to explore in the future? Ali Khorshidpour: I thank you for taking the time to have this conversation. Currently, I am still working on the same black and white geometric works because I think this style still has a lot of potential to grow and development. I decide to try this method with more diverse forms and also strengthen the visual rhythm and musical sense in them. scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator [email protected]
Untitled 115 x 155 cm 2022 Digital drawing for final production
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