David Becker

Last Project  oil on canvas  55" x 37.25"

Cable Ready  charcoal on paper 39.25"  x 27.5"

No U-Turn oil on canvas 60"  x 76"

Corona No. 3 charcoal, conte crayon on watercolor paper 40" x 60"

Redemption (31/100) etching and engraving 22" x 34"

David Becker's work will not appeal to the squeamish. There is little here in the way of beauty or noble sentiment. Figures are often half naked revealing overweight distorted bodies. Their features communicate little more than selfish idiocy. The events portrayed are often cryptic, as if it were an allegory of some sort that could be deciphered with the proper key. But one thing is clear. Whatever the message locked within these images, it is not good news. It is a dark and chaotic vision of the human species. Hundreds of years ago Hieronymous Bosch would have recognized in David Backer a kindred spirit. At that time work like this might have been acknowledged as a theologically sound depiction of mankind's fallen nature, immersed in sin and sorrow. Less than a century ago Otto Dix might have also recognized this work as a similar voice speaking out against the horrors that humanity inflicts upon itself. Human beings in this understanding, are both victim and perpetrator. The present is a far cry from the conditions of Bosch's medieval Europe, when plague, famine and war could consume entire populations without warning. And the horrors of World War II are remembered as little more than grainy film clips on the History Channel. But the human condition never really changes. And there will always be artists who force us to look at the unpleasant truths of it. Because we need them to.

You can see more of his work at Ann Nathan Gallery