Object Record
Images
Metadata
Artist |
Beam, Carl |
Title |
Shadow I |
Accession # |
996.8.31 |
Object Type |
mixed media |
Date |
1992 |
Medium |
mixed media |
Support |
St. Armand handmade paper |
Dimensions |
H-59.252 W-39.252 inches |
Description |
Carl Beam was born in M'Chigeeng First Nation to Barbara Migwans, the Ojibwe daughter of Dominic Migwans, who was then the Chief of the Ojibways of West Bay. Beam disliked being pigeonholed as a "native" or "aboriginal" artist and was often compared to Norval Morrisseau's brand of highly stylized, myth-based paintings and prints. Beam rejected that style as being too limiting, incapable of delivering his complexly interwoven themes and ideas. Instead, he borrowed methods from American pop artists such as Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol, including the use of photo-transfers and other print techniques to layer and contrast found imagery, sometimes in combination with actual objects. Biographical Information: Beam's father was an American soldier, who died as a POW in WWII. For most of his young life, Beam was raised by his grandparents. At the age of ten, Beam was sent to Garnier Residential School, in Spanish, Ontario after which he worked a variety of jobs. Later, Beam pursued a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Victoria. Although he had achieved a level of success in the United States, Beam eventually returned to Canada, where he felt his work had an important contribution to make. Carl Beam made Canadian art history as the first artist of Native Ancestry (Ojibwe), to have his work purchased by the National Gallery of Canada as Contemporary Art. A major retrospective of his work, mounted by the National Gallery of Canada, was exhibited in 2010, recognizing Beam as one of Canada's most important artists. Beam passed away in 2005. |