Ron Bechet
b. 1956, New Orleans
Lives in New Orleans
VENUE
Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane University
Woldenberg Art Center #202, Newcomb Cir, New Orleans, LA 70118
Monday, closed
Tuesday–Friday, 10 AM–5 PM
Saturday–Sunday, 10 AM – 4 PM
NEIGHBORHOOD
About the project
Ron Bechet’s large-scale charcoal drawings are created through an intuitive, freehand process, with scenes crafted from memories of his walks in Louisiana and beyond. The titles of Bechet’s works evoke social dynamics, which would seem to contrast with the natural landscapes he depict. Yet for Bechet the interdependent relationships between trees, roots, and vines are metaphors for society.
Bechet carefully renders the ways vines wrap themselves around trees for support and access to sunlight. At times, this relationship serves both the vine and the tree. Works such as Transformation depict a harmonious symbiosis, as tree and vine both flourish. In Harriet’s Advice, the largest work on view, the base of a tree is on the verge of collapse under the weight of vines that limit its growth. The title references Harriet Tubman’s advice to President Abraham Lincoln that likened slavery to a biting snake that must be killed. The suffocating nature of the vines alludes to the failure to fully address racial oppression and subjugation-based capitalism, which ultimately prevent the growth and stability of American society. Through his immersive compositions, Bechet invites us to see history and ourselves in relationship to the beauty, power, and violence of the natural world.
About the artist
New Orleans native Ron Bechet is a former longtime chairman of the art department and a current professor at Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans. He earned a BA from the University of New Orleans and an MFA from Yale School of Art, New Haven, Connecticut. Bechet’s preferred medium is large-scale painting and drawing, often on a support of shaped plywood, which lends his works a sculptural quality. His paintings primarily feature Southern Louisiana inspired landscapes, and while illusions of the natural world are the focus of his imagery, they often serve as metaphors for the human condition. Undulating roots reveal lithe and supple limbs, twisted branches suggest a graceful female form, and vines cast a shadow like outstretched arms. Bechet has a playful manner of storytelling through his subjects, engaging viewers by asking them to puzzle out his meaning, and at other times making astute social commentary on various cultural themes, such as spirituality, violence, and the realities of the human condition. His work was recently featured in Tina Freeman: Artist Spaces, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans (2017–18), and his solo exhibitions include Sense of Place, Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette, Louisiana (2015), and Back to Nature, Robert Bruno Gallery, New Orleans (2005).
Ron Bechet, 2021–22. Installation view: Prospect.5: Yesterday we said tomorrow, 2021–22. Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane University, New Orleans. Courtesy Prospect New Orleans. Photo: Jeffery Johnston