William Josh Beck
A song of ink
William-Josh Beck works within a minimalist approach, where the line reveals time and movement.
Extending his primary practice of ink on paper, he develops, through sculptural installations, performance and photography a dialogue between trace, full line, and spaces of whiteness or emptiness.
Anchored in his musical practice, his ink-on-paper abstraction proceeds through the transmission of sound energy in the brushstroke. In a black and white dichromatic scheme, the aim is not to paint what can be seen, but what is heard: to transcribe the essence of the sound flow—music, acoustic landscape—into pictorial material.
His compositions notably take the form of large polyptychs composed of modular paper panels. Within a geometric mesh that structures the pictorial space, the flow of the stroke crosses edges, lines, and limits, playing on the tension between the rigour of the format and the freedom of the gesture.
Attentive to the vibration of spaces, Beck intervenes in situ to design immersive installations where auditory and visual perception intertwine. Using field recordings in the environment of exhibition venues, he composes soundscapes that he then paints in ink, articulated with sculptural forms combining mineral elements and geometric shapes within a modular framework.
While the thematic and material articulation of the four elements—air, water, earth, and fire—infuses his whole universe, it is particularly perceptible in his photography. There, Beck captures the trace of time in nature, the landscape being conceived as a form of writing.
William-Josh Beck exposes his creative process to the public through live painting performances, in collaboration with musicians for whom he composes, or in a dynamic of free improvisation.
Represented by The Vanner Gallery (Salisbury) and Galerie de Nuage (New York / Hong Kong).
Exhibited at ZS Art Gallery (Vienna) and Nishiaizu International Art Village (Japan), among other venues.
Member of ACB – réseau art contemporain en Bretagne (France).