Thread Song
May 30 – July 18, 2015
Woodward Gallery
During the mid eighties, Rick Begneaud toured as a chef for the Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan. Traveling extensively, he appropriated not only the tastes, but the textiles and small elements from villages throughout the world to embody those locations from a different perspective.
Begneaud’s self-developed technique has been influenced through a close relationship with his late uncle, Artist Robert Rauschenberg. The creative familial gene is present in Begneaud’s work constructed of implied histories and emotional applications. Begneaud diverges from his Robert Rauschenberg roots with his own nonconfrontational, nonpolitical, organic nature. He aptly combines paint, collaged with fabrics to create abstracted, angular shapes pulsating with rich color. His special preservation of found items morph into new creations.
Today, Begneaud writes a composition of painted thread songs formed from experience, fabric, color and space. The Artist successfully sets the tone for his lyrical ambiance of freedom and calm.
Begneaud discusses, “My work is about an organic drive towards a resonant composition – space, color, texture – that’s what moves me. To some extent, I do agonize over the placement and relationships of parts of each piece, but my goal is always for simplicity… for finding a type of spirit in the work. As time moves on, I find myself desiring that more and more.…the simple stuff. Oftentimes it’s what has been left out, or what is left to “breathe” that defines the strength in my work. The active, positive spaces (photo transfers, fabric, the paint) converse with the negative. That’s essentially where I find my titles…those conversations within…that agreeable or disagreeable tension.