“The Ceremony of Innocence,” a solo show of new work by contemporary surrealist painter Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman, opens at the non-profit contemporary art space Second Street Gallery in Charlottesville, CA on Friday October 7, 2022. There will be an artist’s reception, from 5:30-7:30PM East Coast time). One of the pieces in the show, “Follow the White Rabbit,” is the largest painting the artist has ever done, measuring 66” x 42.” The exhibition, which is sponsored by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, runs through November 18.
Of this new body of work she writes: “The dam of awakening breaks. Innumerable happenings pile on top of one another until, suddenly, our world is remade. Images, figures, ideas, and objects flood our senses. In the space between a blink, we are changed. A rite of passage has begun, one which we can’t un-see and we can’t undo. There is multi-dimensional magic within the moment that childhood leaves and womanhood arrives. Like an ouroboros* swallowing its tail, we join an eternally infinite event for the very first time. Failing to recognize the vital moment of initiation means failing to see the law of the universe. This series of paintings directly point to that juncture. I celebrate the beauty and the shadow of that permanent shift in awareness. I ask that we see its consequence.”
A self-taught figurative artist, Sullivan-Beeman lives and works in Los Angeles, CA, and Vancouver, Canada. She integrates modified oil and egg tempera techniques of the Renaissance with the evocative genre of magic realism – layers and layers of meticulous brushwork make her pieces seem to illuminate from within. She uses her personal dream journal as inspiration, exploring Jung’s collective unconscious with an overt curiosity for the occult and the esoteric, especially alchemy, the tarot and spirit animals. She holds a degree from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, and those studies inform the strong narrative elements in her work.
“The Ceremony of Innocence” comes on the heels of Sullivan-Beeman’s sold-out summer 2022 solo show at Bert Green Fine Art in Chicago, IL. In 2021, her show “No Living Creature Knows” was exhibited at KP Projects in Los Angeles, CA.
Throughout her oeuvre, Sullivan-Beeman examines the lore of the “girl” to empower femininity, question gender roles, and investigate the portrayal of young women in popular culture. She pairs her female figures with their animal guides – daemon spirits – to construct allegorical, fantastical narratives. Sullivan-Beeman’s young women are usually teetering on the edge of naïveté, while also steadfastly powerful and wise. She has said of her work, “I aim to connect the wisdom of living things with the wisdom of the unknown. The collective unconscious joins the contents of my dreams in a magical, subliminal, and deep well.”
Pictured: “Face to Face” oil and egg tempera on aluminum,” 18.5 x 14.5″ (2022)
https://www.sullivanbeeman.com/
