David Beck

Online Gallery of The Singing and the Silence: Birds in Contemporary Art

Born 1953 in Muncie, IN
Lives and works in San Francisco, CA

David Beck’s meticulously crafted paintings, drawings, and sculptures evoke both curiosity and wonder. Each intimately scaled object references a range of sources, from medieval miniatures to American folk art and eighteenth-century mechanical toys. Beck has been depicting the dodo for nearly forty years, beginning with sketches based on an exhibit at the Museum of Natural History in New York. Beck’s diminutive sculptures evoke the surprise and discovery of childhood, but these playful curiosities belie a serious message about vulnerability, loss, and longing.

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      David Beck speaks about his work in the exhibition The Singing and the Silence: Birds in Contemporary Art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The exhibition examines mankind's relationship to birds and the natural world through the eyes of twelve major contemporary American artists, including David Beck, Rachel Berwick, Lorna Bieber, Barbara Bosworth, Joann Brennan, Petah Coyne, Walton Ford, Paula McCartney, James Prosek, Laurel Roth Hope, Fred Tomaselli, and Tom Uttech.

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          David Beck's Mvsevm was commissioned by SAAM in 2006 to commemorate the reopening of the museum after its renovation.