Objects of Desire Michael Beck at Paul Thiebaud Gallery in San Francisco

Objects of Desire by Michael Beck opens the fall season at the Paul Thiebaud Gallery in San Francisco.  Though not necessarily depictions of items coveted by the masses, they are a curious group of subjects— sailboats, cars, trucks, amusement park rides, and dolls—all antique toys, desired at certain ages and in certain eras. Beck’s explores and elevates these "junk" objects, now discarded, time- worn, or rendered obsolete with regard to use in today’s age—the detritus of the past. To Beck, they are items of nostalgia; he sources material from flea markets, especially in Alameda.
This series began in the late 1990s, when the painter turned to single, solitary objects and their complicated shadow patterns produced through the use of multiple light sources. By depicting the objects in their actual sizes, Beck wished to engage the viewer as if the objects were truly present in the round and in real time. As he explained, “ . . . making it smaller creates a preciousness, making it larger creates an issue that goes beyond what the actual object is (i.e. Rosenquist, Oldenburg, etc.).”

Beck received an MFA in Painting with High Distinction from the California College of the Arts and Crafts (now the California College of the Arts), Oakland, California in 1984. He lives and works in Oakland, California.