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Reflections of memory: Beau Carey climbs the mountains of his mind in Richard Levy Gallery exhibit
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Beau Carey paints mountains with memory.
The Albuquerque artist has completed residencies in the Arctic and Alaska. He based nine new oil on canvas paintings at Richard Levy Gallery on repetition and memory, fracturing and inverting the geometry of peaks and valleys. The show will hang through Saturday, July 13.
鈥淣ameless Mountain鈥� gestated with a snow-capped peak while Carey was in a 2012 residency in Norway. The artist combined that memory with the Buddhist practice of kasina meditation.
Reflections of memory: Beau Carey climbs the mountains of his mind in Richard Levy Gallery exhibit
With kasina, the practitioner concentrates on the breath, an emotion or an object, Carey explained.
鈥淭raditionally, people use candle flames,鈥� he said. 鈥淎t the same time, I鈥檓 trying to remember this experience. It kept shifting and changing.鈥�
He first glimpsed the peak from a tall ship on the coast of Norway.
鈥淭he water was clear and glassy and there was this magical quality,鈥� Carey said. 鈥淭his peak came slowly into view.鈥�
But the reverie was interrupted when a shipmate became ill and the ship had to turn around. Soon a helicopter arrived to take the patient to the hospital. After all the drama, Carey couldn鈥檛 find the peak again.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been haunting me ever since,鈥� he said.
He tried painting the mountain from each direction.
鈥淭he more I tried to grasp this memory, it strayed farther and farther away. It was this cognitive dissonance.鈥�
He tried meditating on the mountain.
鈥淎t the same time, I鈥檓 trying to remember this experience, it kept shifting and changing,鈥� Carey said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about the ephemeral quality when we see anything.鈥�
In 鈥淢ountain,鈥� Carey painted a single peak with the moon at its crest. By the time he produced 鈥淣ew, Full, Day, Night,鈥� multiple peaks layer and jut across the canvas as the moon and sun hover in the center. By the time he painted 鈥淥ld Path,鈥� he had created a mirror image.
鈥淔ire Kasina鈥� turned into a collage of triangles and squares in vibrant shades of reds, pinks and purples. 鈥淵ellow Kasina鈥� preceded it.
鈥淭he reflections aren鈥檛 perfect,鈥� Carey said. 鈥淚 love it. I love the fallibility of memory.鈥�
Carey earned his master鈥檚 degree at the University of New Mexico before moving to Denver. The residencies followed. When he was in Denali National Park and Preserve, he saw the northern lights and used a wood burning stove in 25 degrees below freezing.
His family had nurtured the artist in him.
鈥淢y mother was a huge encouragement,鈥� Carey said. 鈥淪he never used to give me coloring books; she made me use my imagination. What a gift.
鈥淚 am constantly in awe that I get to call myself an artist, given the community here.鈥�
In the summer of 2015, Beau was one of five artists to be in residence on Rabbit Island in Lake Superior. Working both at remote locations in the field and at home in the studio, his work explores historical and contemporary issues surrounding landscape painting and land use. He is a founding member of Denver鈥檚 Tank Studios.
