Robert Bechtle

This catalogue is published on the occassion of the exhibition Robert Bechtle at Gladstone, New York December 1 2006 - January 6 2007. 

For over forty years, Bechtle’s paintings and works on paper have consistently mined a uniquely American terrain, depicting with awe-inspiring accuracy his friends, family, and most notably the car-lined streets of his San Francisco neighborhood. Throughout, Bechtle continually honed his remarkable ability to capture the stilled atmosphere of life through complex compositions and a constant exploration of painting technique. This body of work on view does not diverge in terms of content; however, as Linda Nochlin notes in her accompanying catalogue essay, “There is a new sense of finality, of pathos, of darkness, in subject matter, color, and composition.”

Bechtle's paintings subtly but invariably pull our focus from observable details to the conditions of luminosity that makes these things visible. Whether it is the irradiated glint of afternoon glare reflecting on a car’s metallic bumper, or the burnished glow of a streetlight bathing the hood of a truck, Bechtle manipulates paint to capture the particular temperaments of light and creates an atmosphere at once so recognizable, yet so distant. His compositions literally come from the other side of the street, opening for contemplation the seemingly common vistas of American life.

 

 

Published by Gladstone, 2007

Hardcover
English
47 pages
10 x 11 1/2 inches; 25 1/2 x 28 1/2 cm
ISBN 0-9703422-5-X