Saturday, Rollin Beamish found a check for $10,000 in his mailbox. It wasn't Publisher's Clearinghouse --he earned his the hard way.
Beamish, an Ohio University graduate student, won a $10,000 grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation to assist in the transition from school to the professional work place. Students working toward a master's degree in fine arts can be nominated for the grant by someone from a group of artists and scholars around the nation that are chosen by the foundation.
Beamish is a painter who describes his subject matter as pop surrealism. His paintings generally are abstract representations of pop culture references, such as cartoons and even Internet pop-up ads.
Beamish, whose thesis show currently is on display, said he tries to use ideas of pop culture instead of concrete objects.
Almost like you think maybe you've seen it before
he said. You have to make something of it based on past experiences.
Beamish shares his thesis show with friend and fellow artist Andrew McCormick. Their show is titled Big Dumb Inactive Meat Reaction a combination of their original individual show titles.
It's largely concerned with pop culture Beamish said. It's our response to oversaturation.
While Beamish uses abstract ideas of pop culture, McCormick uses more specific icons, Beamish said.
The pair decided to merge their shows not only because of their similar subject matter but also because of their personalities.
Our work looks good together
I think there's a nice relationship
but I think part of that is we have similar interests and similar senses of humor
he said. We had a lot of pop culture references that were similar.
A show of McCormick's sculptures in Chicago a year ago solidified their desire to work together. McCormick needed more work for display, and he invited Beamish to show his paintings, McCormick said.
My work is sculptural
in the middle of the room
and his work is all painting
so to see my work you're always seeing his work
he said. We really enjoyed that show.
Unfortunately, around the time of the show in Chicago, Beamish's road to success hit a minor speed bump when a momentary lapse of concentration while cutting wood resulted in a severed finger.
It was a cautionary tale for the woodshop kids
Beamish said.
Ironically, at the time, Beamish's art dealt with the idea of amputation, and friends joked that he took his art a little too far, he said.
But the injury was mostly a big pain in the ass
