Bearden is an African-American who was born in North Carolina in 1911. He studied with German-born artist, George Grosz, who was part of the Dada movement and founded the "New Objectivity" group. The characteristics of this movement--collage, photomontage, assemblage and readymades--greatly influenced Bearden's work, though he, himself, was not a Dadaist.
Bearden's artistic career spanned quite some time, beginning around the 1930s and ending with his death in the 80s. This was a very exciting time in the United States and offered much fuel for Bearden's work. Some key events that influenced Bearden's work were World War II (Bearden enlisted) and most significant for Bearden was the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, of which he partook. He created a large body of work with themes pertaining thereto.
After the WWII, many of Bearden's paintings portrayed abstracted figures tied with metaphorical and/or spiritual themes. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, though, pushed Bearden to create more representational and socially-relevant work.
Important themes Bearden exhibited through his work were those relating to his own, African-American roots. He explored socially-charged issues of the 1960s and African American life, in general, in the southern United States.
The immense personal connection Bearden had to his work--not just by the fact that he made the works, himself, but also by the fact that their content hit so close to home--is something I want to capture in my own work, particularly for my I.P.
I've been thinking more about other potential ideas and one I am currently flirting with is creating a large-scale "map" of Berlin--the way I remember it. Spending this past summer in Berlin was such an incredible experience, and by making a map of the various places I frequented, streets I traversed on a daily basis and people I saw, I will forever have a memory of this special time in my life.
Now, more aesthetically-speaking, I envision this piece as a large-scale collage with hinged building facades that open to reveal their interiors. I am interested in experimenting with work that is interactive for the viewer so if I can somehow fabricate buildings that open, that would be great!
The type of collages I currently make are made almost entirely of papers I cut myself, but I would like to incorporate more found images, both for aesthetic purposes and for the purpose of presenting a challenge to myself and pushing me beyond my current comfort zone.
Bearden's collages are so inspiring and capture an essence I hope to achieve with mine. I respond to his above work of because of the immense sense of movement in it. Nothing about it is stationary, which makes the piece dynamic and exciting for the viewer. This is achieved, in large part, by the angled figures in the foreground and oppositely-angled cars in the middle ground opposing vertical background buildings. Bearden's composition and color choice is really great, too. The foreground is dense with interesting shapes, and the buildings in the background provide a vertical, rectangular stability in front of which these head-, wheel- and hat-shapes can interact.
The colors in the piece demonstrate Bearden's keen sensitivity to--and knowledge of--visual space. Muted tones pervade throughout the piece with elements of black. While black can serve to stabilize a work, it can also provide dynamism, which is exemplified here. Additionally, the sienna-colored car on the left-hand side of the work is simply genius. Its boldness of being the largest shape of (relatively) uniform color and value makes it pop against the hecticness of the overall piece.
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