Alex Beard (artist)

Alex Beard

Alex Beard Portrait
Nationality American
Education Tufts University, New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts
Known for Painting, Drawing, Author

Alex Beard (born 1970)[1] is an American artist born in New York City who is now based out of New Orleans. His work ranges from simple and representational to abstract. He frequently draws and paints African wildlife using his unique gestural style.

Biography

Alex Beard was born in 1970 in New York City. His father is philanthropist Sam Beard who co-founded the Jefferson Awards for Public Service. His mother, Patricia Beard, is an author and was a former editor for Town & Country, Elle, and Mirabella magazines.[2] He is the nephew of photographer Peter Beard. As a teenager, he was able to travel parts of the world like Panama, Africa, China, India, and Belize.[3]

Alex Beard attended Tufts University and received a degree in history and literature.[4] He also studied classical drawing and painting at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and was an active participant in the New York Studio School's drawing marathon. In his early twenties Beard moved to New Orleans to study advanced painting at The New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts. He most strongly credits all of his world travels for helping him develop his artistic skills and broadened perspective.[5] Alex worked as a writer, artist, and photographer for Tribe Magazine, a small New Orleans magazine publication in the mid-nineties. It is in New Orleans that Alex opened his first gallery and open studio in the French Quarter. He also married and became a father of two.[6]

Displaced from New Orleans due to Hurricane Katrina, Alex and his family moved back to New York City.[7] Beard ran a studio in SoHo which doubled as an exhibition place from 2006 to 2009.[8] In 2009 Beard returned to New Orleans.[9]

Beard is on the Board of Selectors of Jefferson Awards for Public Service.[10]

Art

Alex's artwork consists mostly of ink drawings and oil paintings. It was Alex's uncle Peter Beard that first taught him how to use an ink quill when he was a child, as well as encouraged him from a very young age to be an artist and businessman.[11]

The subject matter of the majority of Alex's artwork is wildlife using a style of painting he calls Abstract Naturalism. This is a combination of abstract expressionism and naturalistic environmental art. Alex layers abstract lines with the anatomy of different animals through the use of the golden ratio to make the viewer's eyes move through the painting exactly how he intends.[12]

The only human subject matter that Alex works with is a mathematical sequence called "The Audience."[13]

Books

Alex Beard is an author and illustrator. Tales from the Watering Hole is a trilogy of books penned and illustrated by Beard and published by Abrams Books. The Jungle Grapevine was published in 2009,[14] Monkey See, Monkey Draw was published in 2011,[15] and Crocodile's Tears was published in 2012.[16] "Crocodile's Tears was reviewed by the New York Times in February 2012 by author Pamela Paul.[17]

Mobile Apps

An app based on Alex Beard's trilogy of books, also named Tales from the Watering Hole, was published in 2013 by Fat Red Couch, Inc. It is available for Apple iOS and Android devices.[18]

Puzzles

In 2008, Beard released a line of jigsaw puzzles featuring his artwork. The puzzle pieces feature unique shapes that do not snap into each other like usual puzzles. Instead, they settle side by side. This allows the puzzles to have many different combinations of results.[19]

Needlepoint

In 2015, a series of needlepoint canvases based on Beard's work was released by QS Designs, the wholesale entity related to the brick and mortar yarn and needlepoint shop, The Quarter Stitch in New Orleans, LA.

Notes

  1. ↑ Beard, Alex. "Alex Beard Bio". Alex Beard. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  2. ↑ http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/652/Patricia_Beard/index.aspx
  3. ↑ Alex Beard Studio
  4. ↑ CV and Exhibition listing
  5. ↑ Qualls, James (May 2011). "The Alex Beard Studio". Arts University of New Orleans Administration Master's Reports 123. Retrieved July 10, 2012.
  6. ↑ Rose, Chris. "The 60-Second Interview: Alex Beard". The Times Picayune. Retrieved 2012-07-17.
  7. ↑ 60 Second Interview
  8. ↑ Homes, A.M. (April 2008). "Call Of The Wild". Vanity Fair: 110.
  9. ↑ Arts New Orleans. "Alex Beard Studio". ArtsNewOrleans.org. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
  10. ↑ http://www.jeffersonawards.org/board
  11. ↑ Octavia Art Gallery New Orleans. "Alex Beard - Origins". Octavia Art Gallery New Orleans. Retrieved July 10, 2012.
  12. ↑ Allen, Libby (Winter 2012). "Abstract Naturalism". Art New Orleans Magazine 5 (1): 36–41.
  13. ↑ Qualls, James (May 2011). "The Alex Beard Studio". Arts Administration Master's Reports 123. Retrieved 2012-07-17.
  14. ↑ Beard, Alex (2009). The Jungle Grapevine. New York, NY: Abrams Books for Young Readers. p. 48. ISBN 978-0-8109-8001-3.
  15. ↑ Beard, Alex (2011). Monkey See, Monkey Draw. New York, NY: Abrams Books for Young Readers. p. 48. ISBN 978-0-8109-8970-2.
  16. ↑ Beard, Alex (2012). Crocodile's Tears. New York, NY: Abrams Books for Young Readers. p. 48. ISBN 978-1-4197-0126-9.
  17. ↑ Paul, Pamela. "Even Crocodile's Get the Blues". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-07-17.
  18. ↑ Tales from the Watering Hole - Promotional trailer
  19. ↑ Impossible Puzzles
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