Claudia
Nicole Beck
Nicole Beck, Claudia, 2017, Oil on canvas, 20 x 16 inches.
Featured Artist
Nicole Beck: The [Un]Ordinary Portrait
There is simultaneously nothing so ordinary, so complex, and so intimate as a face.
We gloss over the repetition of mouth, eyes, and nose that compose this ubiquitous form. However, we are simultaneously obsessed with them, as the age-old practice of physiognomy and our modern infatuation with selfies testify.
It takes a special eye to see the nuances of the common face and an empathic being to delve under the surface of the visage. Artist Nicole Beck blends her skilled eye, trained hands, and compassionate heart with a knowledge of God as the original Creator of the face and Artist of the complexity of humanity that is a reflection of His glory.
Beck sees the splendor of the so-called ordinary: the delicate collar bone, strong and elegant; the subtle shadows thrown by the brow; the way light caresses the animated structure we call bone, cartilage, and muscle. In painting portraits, Beck unveils the beauty of the everyday.
Using dramatic lighting and a warm color palette, Beck portrays the common person as a manifestation, a receptacle, and a conduit of eternity. As C.S. Lewis says in The Weight of Glory:
There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit . . .
Along with lighting, color, and compositions aimed at bringing out the dynamic and complex nature of the mortal/immortal person, Beck uses technique to uplift the simple subject matter of the representational form. Beck begins her paintings with brushes and ends them exclusively with palette knife work. The broad palette strokes and her emphasis on heightened color elevate the face from the quotidian to the ethereal, giving the viewer a glimpse of its eternal significance.
Additional Information & Resources
Nicole Beck
Nicole Beck received a minor in Fine Art at Mississippi State University. She lives with her husband and Tamaskan dog in Old Colorado City. In her free time, Nicole can be found studying for her Masters in Theology, and defending Memphis BBQ as the best in the country.