Synopses & Reviews
The eccentric visionary artist Forrest Bess (1911andndash;1977) spent most of his life on the Texas coast working as a commercial fisherman. In his spare time, however, he painted prolifically, creating an extraordinary body of work rich with enigmatic symbolism. Bess experienced hallucinations that both frightened and intrigued him, and he incorporated images from these visions into small-scale abstract paintings starting in the mid-1940s.
His canvases attracted an underground following, and between 1949 and 1967, Betty Parsons organized six solo exhibitions of Bessandrsquo;s work at her prominent New York City gallery. Since then, the art world has periodically rediscovered his work, most recently through a 2012 Whitney Biennial installation by American sculptor Robert Gober, which further exposed Bessandrsquo;s psychological, medical, and religious theories. Forrest Bess: Seeing Things Invisible is the artistandrsquo;s first museum retrospective with catalogue in the United States and offers a fresh look at Bessandrsquo;s work and a better understanding of this curious and complicated artist.
Review
and#8220;Consolidating forty-eight of Bessand#8217;s paintingsand#8230;this exhibition and catalog are the next steps in spawning light from Bessand#8217;s refreshingly sacral body of work.and#8221;and#8212;Artforumandnbsp;
Synopsis
Thisand#160;fresh exploration into the work of an eccentric visionary artist casts new light on the curious, seemingly symbolic aspects of his paintings.
About the Author
Clare Elliott is assistant curator at The Menil Collection. Robert Gober is an artist working in New York City.