William Josh Beck
A song of ink (Un chant d'encre)
He works in ink on paper in resonance with sound, having been trained in Japan in the avant-garde pictorial and calligraphic approach of the Jojō 抒情 movement.
Drawing on the potential of his musical practice, his work is developed through a transmission of the energy of the sound flow in the brush stroke. In a variation on black and white, it is no longer a question of painting what is seen, but what is heard: capturing the trace of the sound rather than the visible.
Path towards an eclipse of the self and intentionality, sound as support for the bursting of the line leaves free the occurence of everything possible in the pictorial act. The gesture comes from a full presence at the heart of a continuous moment. This experience of creation as a meditative modality gives birth to a refined abstraction which presents itself as a raw trace, modulation of emptiness and fullness.
His studio practice extends to live ink painting performances, either in conjunction with the musical identities of the spectators, or with his own live sound device, based on the transformation of the sounds of water, brush bristles and paper, or even accompanied by musicians. A dialogue is established between the instrument and the brush, with the painting emerging from the music, and the music springing from the graphic dimension of the ink line, which can be read like a score.
Sensitive to the vibration of spaces, William-Josh Beck likes to work in resonance with the singularity of places and beings, to offer unique immersive and meditative visual or sound installations, in on-site creation. His upcoming projects include field recordings in the environment of the exhibition spaces, the sound movement of which he then paints with ink. He thus proposes a new form of abstract landscape painting: it is no longer a question of painting what is seen in the landscape, but what is heard. These polysensory installations will bring into resonance the listening of these sound environments and the visual creations in ink (2025).
In the same spirit, he also creates inked portraits of women based on important music of their lives, combined in installations with sound portraits based on recordings of their living environment (Nishiaizu international Art Village, Japan, 2025).
In photography, he captures the traces of time in nature, whether in the appearance or disappearance of vegetation as the seasons change, the traces of telluric fissures, or the negative of photonic movements on the photographic plate.
William-Josh Beck's artistic work extends to video: his inks are transmuted into moving landscapes through filtering and tracking shots. The image is interwoven to sound compositions whose material, drawn from the music at the origin of the painted work, is shaped into an auditory journey. This mise en abyme draws evolving acoustic-visual architectures which take on a hypnotic dimension analogous to that of his paintings.
Living and working in the heart of a preserved environment, between sea and forest, his practice is in harmony with this ecosystem through the use of natural materials: water, soot ink, charcoal, softwood or mulberry paper. The elements, air, water, earth and fire, thus infuse his universe.