Carl Beam
Curator's Statement
Carl Beam showing in the West Gallery, is a First Nation artist from Eastern Canada. Carl Beam is an artist of eloquent anger. Through his own self-examination, and the reality/metaphor of Indian culture, Beam transforms his personal voice into a global conscience. "if you have your own face next to a rocket, if you have your own face next to the Sadat assassination, this, to me, implies that one has to have personal responsibility for world events. You have to respond personally. Everybody eventually has to learn how to respond or to filter what's happening through their own senses."
His work is stark, complex and often brutal. He has honed a few images into personal icons e.g. the mother buffalo and her calf, the elk, the eagle. In conjunction with these icons he has placed historical and contemporary images of Indians along side images of contemporary politics in order to play counterpoint to these traditional representations of Indians - setting up vibrations of meanings. He reclaims the cliché images and reinvests them with contemporary meaning. His art critiques the white man's preconceptions of Indians, sometimes with humor but always with a biting wit. In the process he creates new icons for Indians and non-Indians alike: images of survival and continuity.
Severely abbreviated CV
Education
1974 B.F.A. University of Victoria, B.C.
1975/76 Graduate Studies, University of Alberta
Selected Solo Exhibitions since 1995
2000 Reconstructing Reason: the Koan of Carl Beam, Carleton University
Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON
1999 Epistemological Reconstruction Work, DeLeon White Gallery, Downtown,
Toronto, ON
1997 Margins: Food/Shelter, DeLeon White Gallery, Downtown, Toronto, ON
1995 DeLeon White Gallery, Downtown, Toronto, ON