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Mark Beard
A Wrestler, His Girlfriend, Their Dog (Figurative Oil of Athletes by Mark Beard)

date unknown

About the Item

A Wrestler, His Girlfriend, and Their Dog Academic style figurative oil painting of a young man and woman with their dog in the gym locker room by Mark Beard 68 x 32 inches oil on canvas mounted on Masonite 75 x 39 inches framed This painting represents a segment of a large mural the artist was commissioned to paint for Abercrombie & Fitch's flagship stores. This painting was featured in the Manhattan's towering mural which stretched several floors. Beard worked on the commission in his NYC studio and completed the work in 2005. Painted in a style that evokes the portraits of John Singer Sargent, Mark Beard is a contemporary living artist who paints under the pseudonym, Bruce Sargeant, an English painter who worked during the 1920's and 30's. The contemporary figurative painting, made in a modern Academic style, features a young male athlete wearing a wrestling singlet. He is with a young woman wearing a pale, yellow dress and her hair pulled back into a ponytail. A big white fuzzy dog is standing obediently next to his owner. Other young men can be seen in the background striking various poses against the dark green painted wainscoting. Characteristic of the artist's other paintings, the figures' skin tone is painted a slate grey while their cheeks and hands exhibit a flush pink hue. The black painted wood frame is slightly distressed to match the artist's fictitious timeline. About the artist: Mark Beard is perhaps the most literal example of an artist pulled in so many different directions that he chose to “invent” six different personae in which to channel his overflowing energy and need for expression. Each painting style is radically different from the next, so it remains entirely believable that the work could stem from six completely different people of different time periods and different schools of thought. With a background in set design, Beard has always been one who could conjure total magic with anything available. For this exhibit, he returns as the beloved 20th century painter from England, Bruce Sargeant, featuring a parade of Arcadian scenes suggesting afternoons of young men sporting in the countryside, rowing, bicycling, hunting or wrestling. Clean shaven, well manicured youths pose casually, indulging every opportunity to display a titillating flex of stone-like musculature. Like modern Greek statues, Beard paints these prestigious figures oftentimes in pairs of twos and threes in a lazy state of beautiful passivity. Mark Beard keeps himself fresh with challenge, undertaking ambitious commissions and committing to weekly sketch sessions with live models in his Manhattan studio. The result of this dedicated practice is a stunning array of graphite and conte crayon drawings on Arches paper. Mark Beard has exhibited with Carrie Haddad Gallery for nearly twenty years and there has never been a dull moment. Mark Beard, born in 1956 in Salt Lake city, now lives in New York City. His works are in museum collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; the Museum of Modern Art, New York City; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City; the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; and the Harvard, Yale, and Princeton University Art Museums; among many others. We would not be the least bit surprised to see new ‘personas’ emerge in the coming years.
  • Creator:
    Mark Beard (1956, American)
  • Creation Year:
    date unknown
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 75 in (190.5 cm)Width: 40 in (101.6 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Hudson, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU2274297631
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