LUCKY GIRL: That’s the title of this oil-on-panel painting by renowned Bucks County artist Robert Beck, who will be exhibiting his latest works at the Gallery of Robert Beck, 204 North Union Street, Lambertville from October 25 through November 23. A free public reception for the opening will take place on Saturday, October 25, from 5 to 8 p.m.; a second reception will take place on Sunday, October 26, from 1 to 4 p.m. The artist’s work can be seen at www.robertbeck.net. For more information contact (609) 397-5679 or robert@robertbeck.net. (Photo by Jeffrey Apoian)

Bucks County artist Robert Beck, whose works are popular among local art collectors, was one of three internationally acclaimed artists to be honored by The Philadelphia Sketch Club at its 154th Anniversary Gala last week. Together with Elizabeth Osborne and Moe Brooker, Mr. Beck received the the Sketch Club Medal. The medal will join no less than 28 other major awards the artist has received over the years; past recipients include Jamie Wyeth and Robert Venturi.

Visitors to Mr. Beck’s gallery, at 204 North Union Street, Lambertville, will have an opportunity to see his recent paintings in an exhibition appropriately titled, “Open Road,” opening with a public reception on Saturday, October 25, from 5 to 8 p.m. A second reception will take place on Sunday, October 26, from 1 to 4 p.m. The exhibition will continue through November 23.

Described as “a Renaissance man,” Mr. Beck is not only an accomplished painter, he has taught other artists, curated art exhibits, and sat on numerous arts organization boards. He’s also hosted a radio show and is a columnist for ICON magazine. He’s known for representational paintings unrestricted by subject matter or genre, and for painting live events in unusual or difficult environments.

Over the years, Mr. Beck, who attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, has built a portfolio of images that speak to the American experience. His subjects show people at work and at play. They depict, he once explained, “who we as Americans are by painting what we do, where we do it, and by giving our everyday world a second look.”

“Open Road” comprises 39 oil-on-panel paintings and one sketch for Lucky Girl, shown here. Visitors will discover plein air paintings and larger studio works of subjects ranging from Maine, New York, and Vienna, as well as local images.

The paintings depict scenes of people at work, in coffee shops and bars, gathered around a table for storytelling, or playing music together as in Jam Session.

“Regardless of genre, I want my paintings to strike a chord in the viewer that gives association to something in memory,” said the artist. “I don’t want to tell you it is a lunch counter; I want you to feel what you felt when you ate at one. I want you to hear the plates.”

“Open Road” includes scenes that will resonate with New Jersey and Bucks County residents such as Stockton Inn, and Behind Phillips Mill, as well as scenes of Manhattan. Especially evocative are Mr. Beck’s snowscapes and night scenes like Night Snow, Manhattan and Broadway, above Columbus, all of which can be viewed on the artist’s website (www.robertbeck.net).

According to his artist’s statement, Mr. Beck has “always been fascinated by what makes things happen” and he uses painting in order to “investigate events that combine to make life’s parade.”

“I really enjoy working under the difficult and distracting circumstances that come with being in the middle of a crowded event, faced with the multiple challenges of motion, unusual lighting, limited time, and interaction with the public. Painting from life adds substance a camera can’t record. Your wet feet make you consider the puddles, and the wind on your face draws attention to the swirl of the leaves and sway of the branches. The experience is included in the artwork and felt by the viewer. I spend hours in one spot taking a good look and, in a form, creating an iconic image of what I see. Over time I observe rhythms that add to the identity of the scene, absorbing a great deal of sensory information.”

Mr. Beck has had dozens of solo shows; his representational style has won awards at the Phillips’ Mill Annual Juried Exhibition, the Woodmere Art Museum Annual Juried Exhibition, the Lambertville Historical Society Annual Juried Exhibition, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Fellowship Exhibition.

He is represented in galleries in New York, Philadelphia and extensively through the region, including the National Arts Club, and in numerous collections, including the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, University of Pennsylvania, and the James A. Michener Art Museum, which selected 37 of his paintings for exhibition in 1999. More recently, the City of Trenton Museum at Ellarslie presented a retrospective of his work in 2007.

The artist’s philosophy is expressed in this remark: “Art is the sum of our collective experience and imagination, and the most powerful way to present ideas that we have. It’s not an answer, it’s a proposition. It keeps the human conversation from going circular.”

Of his most recent work, the artist said: “This has been a year of probing boundaries for me. I’m always trying to identify a basic truth about that first moment when you engage a subject — that thing that gives it identity — and I’m still discovering new ways to describe the world around me.”

The Gallery of Robert Beck is open Saturdays and Sundays, from noon to 4 p.m., and by appointment. For more information, call (215) 982-0074, or visit: www.robertbeck.net.