The Grand Canyon Series
Jan Beekman Chicago Period
… “European and American artists, writers and poets have long been attracted by the stark, primal beauty of the southwestern region of the United States. D.H. Lawrence, André Breton, Max Ernst and Georgia O’Keefe are just a few of the man and woman who have felt the extraordinary power of this open country where one has vistas of 50 miles and more., punctuated by mountains and mesas spreading out towards the far distant horizon. As a contemporary artist, Jan Beekman traveled many times to Arizona and New Mexico, drawn by the experience of the elemental, haunting landscape and the presence of the Native American peoples who still live their traditional lives as carefully integrated members of the natural ecosystem. Jan Beekman as an artist, sought out the Pueblos of the Rio Grande, the centuries old adobe villages of the Hopi mesas, and the isolated desert pastures of the Navajo where people’s everyday and ceremonial lives are bound to nature and their arts reflect the power, harmony and balance of the order of the seasons.” …
The vibrant lakeshore city of Jan Beekman Chicago period.
… During his years living in the vibrant lakeshore city of Chicago, Jan Beekman has often traveled to the nearby hills and river valleys of Wisconsin and especially to the small community of Spring Green a center of activity for the great American artistic genius Frank Lloyd Wright. Examples of Wright’s prairie school architecture that can be seen in and around Chicago. His efforts in Spring Green strongly influenced Jan Beekman’s thoughts about effectively relating his art to the natural environment. Jan Beekman has said that in his experience art is closer to nature in the United States. He feels that in America the creative individual must reference the presence of the natural world to fully express a milieu in which nature’s power can never be denied.
Dr Evan M. Maurer
Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
The Grand Canyon series had it's premiere at Muzee Oostende.
