John Beech creates objects that fuse aspects of utility and abstraction. In Foam Block, 2007, Beech encases a yellowish found foam block in plexiglass, adding strips of silver taping. This juxtaposition of industrial materials with dispensable objects results in a conflation of seemingly unrelated qualities: abstraction and functionalism. Beech’s often surprising material combinations impart a subtle humor to many of his works. For example, Blanket Bar, 2007-a 12 feet horizontal plexiglass box that encloses three different blankets-is partially covered with green enamel paint. This work playfully merges painterly and sculptural properties and raises questions about the definitions of these media. In another group of works entitled Coated Drawings (see detail of Coated Drawing #80 pictured above), Beech continues his interest in blurring pictorial and art historical categories by painting over large-scale black and white photographs of urban environments.

In the front gallery a series of smaller sculptural objects Turning Discs, Turning Objects, and Paint Rag Cases will be on display. Here moments of precision are contrasted with sections of rawness that reveal Beech’s process and expose the structure of his objects. Within this body of work paint spills and splatters add textural nuances. Flexibility and spontaneity are crucial to Beech’s practice. He deliberately embraces accidents and obstacles that arise during fabrication and thinks of them as opportunities of artistic potential.