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A R T & C U L T U R E
Bekky Beukes
Visual Artist
bekkybeukes.com
An artist is not something that you
‘decide to become’ I have always
felt the obsessive need to create and
express myself, almost like purging
things that I feel and want to say
through form and color. I was able
to start cultivating my expression
through painting, over the last three
years, around the time I moved to the
United States.
I moved to America in 2014 and was
unable to work so I decided to rent a
studio in Ybor City, where I was able
to explore visually expressing things
I felt. I would write poetry and paint
a version of those words. 2014 was a
period for me, no one was watching,
I was making work because I needed
that therapy for myself.
I have lived in Tampa since 2014, I’m
originally from South Africa.
My profession before pursuing my
creative expression professionally
through paint has always involved
something creative. I owned a fashion
label called CHIMERA in South
Africa and became notorious for my
unusual juxtaposition of texture. My
debut collection in 2007 saw models
walking down the ramps carrying
guns, wearing lace gowns and gas
masks. I have always been intrigued
by the notion of combining opposite
and extreme elements. Forcing
collaborations between whatever
seemed unnatural, expanding the
boundaries of what is appropriate and
what is not by creating a borderline
offensive but beautiful piece that
almost guides the viewer into
understanding that creatively we are
able to design our own reality.
I have also always considered my
expression as a platform to talk about
things that matter, that debut show,
was inspired by my brother leaving for
devastated and angered me at the
time and I needed to say something
about it, so I did.
People inspire me, watching them
interact, how faces change, how love
becomes, the way anger and pain
makes them behave, I feed off of
the way that makes me feel, I paint
scenes that are layered with emotional
content.
miserable because the work is just
so heart wrenchingly excellent, then I
become competitive and I hunger to
that superpower that literally makes
my heart stop beating, I love seeing
work that blows my mind and makes
me want to be better at what I’m
doing.
I start with deciding on a message,
something I want to expose in myself,
something I want to say and might
be scared to say, so I have to say it.
My concepts are also inspired by a
personal challenge related to my
‘removing color’ which is my intention
for the collection I am currently
working on, this allows uncomfortable
space for me to grow, painfully
sometimes, as an artist.
I then create concept sketches that
have an underlying theme, decide on
a color palette, relative to the mood or
message, I typically chart my colors so
that they stay consistent throughout
the collection.
Once I have explored the message
through sketching, deconstructing
palette, I build and stretch the frames,
the piece and start throwing paint.
Every part of my process is intentional.
Ybor City was where I began my art
I fell in love with. The unapologetic
roughness of it. The feeling of
nostalgia, of memories and ghosts,
the way it comes alive at night, the
silent mornings, the smell of stale
cigars. Ybor City welcomed me in a