Denver-based artist Jim Beckner paints like a jazz musician. The blues bop, the oranges swing, and the yellows vibrate. Drawn to the beat of the city, the artist creates expressionistic urban landscapes that show his unabashed love of color. More than anything, his paintings dance with their own energy, and an urban rhythm emanates from his canvases.
he breadth of Beckner’s artistic output reveals that he moves freely among stylistic approaches, from post-Impressionism to expressionism and even fauvism—all of which are heavily dependent on a strong color palette. Some of his cityscapes and beach scenes convey a post-Impressionist sense of capturing a specific place at a certain moment. Most of his canvases exhibit a personal, more subjective approach to color, à la the expressionists.
Beckner usually begins with color photographs. “I’m drawn to the temperature of colors—cool versus warm—but I’m not a slave to the photograph,” he explains. “I try to choose colors that are out of the ordinary. I like to challenge myself, to paint myself into a corner and see if I can get out.” Thus, an urban street scene captured on camera might become a subtle study in light and shadows, or it may burst into a sweeping array of brightly colored shapes signifying movement and structure.
