This book contains almost 300 vibrant images spanning over 12 years of Bickman’s painting career including photos of her works in progress, studio spaces (New York City, East Hampton, Florida) and travels (France, India and more). 160 pages, full color with dust jacket.
LOOK WITHIN AND BE HAPPY
FROM THE INTRODUCTION BY KELLI BICKMAN
This book is Dave McKean’s fault. Well, fault isn’t really the right word. You see, before I go to sleep at night I ask to have my dreams reveal anything I need to know. This particular night held a dream in where the amazingly talented artist Dave McKean told me it’s been over 10 years since I put together a book and it was time for me to do so again.
My first book was a book of photographs published in 1996, a black & white collection of images taken on the set of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere in London and images of the cast of wild characters from my life in the West Village of New York City back in the early 90′s. I had some success as a photographer and had a one woman gallery show in NYC. It was an exciting time to be alive and an artist in the Big Apple. Oddly enough, It was then I decided I wasn’t really a photographer, even though I took good photos and knew my way around a camera. My heart told me I was painter because I LOVED painting.
I grew up on a farm in small town Minnesota. My nearest neighbor lived a mile away. Sometimes I think this is why I was able to spend 14 years of my life in New York City…I was good at being alone. New York is interesting that way. A huge city filled with people, yet also a very isolating place. A good place to hole up in my apartment, shut out the world, and make art.
An artist friend once told me that to make good art takes three things. First, you must throw out your friends. Second, you must throw out your lover. And, third, you must throw out yourself. Then, and only then, will you have the space to create good art (and “once in a while”, he said with a twinkle, “you will have the gift to create Great art.” )
Before moving East I studied art in London and painting in Wisconsin where I earned my BFA with a concentration in painting. In 1995 I moved to NYC into a shared two bedroom apartment on 8th Street & 5th Avenue. My initial reaction to the apartment was shock at how small the space was for the price…but after visiting friends in other apartments, I realized I had a huge treasure. A 15’ x 17’ bedroom was a luxury. The city was amazing…vibrant, alive, literally pulsating with ideas and interesting characters at every turn. I often went for long walks at night soaking in the richness of the city that never sleeps. The lights of the city were so bright at night the stars in the sky were virtually invisible so I started painting them into my art in my earlier works.
Since my space was limited, and I was broke, I constructed assemblages made from objects I’d found on the street and paintings on a smaller scale, selected images you’ll see on the first few pages of this book. I lived in the former stomping grounds of famous artists such as Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns so this seemed to fit the situation perfectly.
Shortly after I stopped taking pictures and started painting, my paintings were featured by MTV in Times Square. I decided I was on the right track. I took a job working for an illustrator and he mentored me thru the world of making a living in the graphics world while I worked as a waitress in a jazz club at night and made art in every spare moment. I sold a few pieces and started getting small commissions thru word of mouth.
Somewhere in the mix I sublet my apartment, bought, lived in and then sold a house in Northern Florida. It was during this time that I was turned on to working on a larger scale canvas and was awarded a grant by Art in Public Places in Jacksonville, FL. I made an 18’ painting titled “The Learning Tree” (page 141) and installed it in a public library in one of the poorest parts of town. It made me extremely happy to witness the children come into the library and see the expressions on their faces when they first saw the huge painting in the middle of their library.
Travel is in my blood and I adventure whenever possible, always bringing my paints and rolls of paper with me. When I was in high school I traveled to Mexico where I was turned on to the beautifully painted large murals of Diego Rivera and the intimate truth by Frida Kahlo’s self portraits. After college a trip to the West Indies brought the splendor of carnival art, and a backpacking excursion thru Peru taught me about the native artisans use of color using traditional materials.
India inspired me endlessly with the brilliantly painted Buddhist and Hindu temples and the devotion with which the people lived. I stayed in a Tibetan Buddhist Nunnery for several months while studying the art of tangka painting as well as exploring sacred meditation caves on mountain tops, drinking yak butter tea and doing my best to stay dry during the notorious downpours of monsoon season. Many of the images seen in this book were inspired by my time in Northern India and are large in scale, vibrant in color and rich in symbolism.
On the return trip from India I rented a small flat near the Sacre Coeur in Paris and spent my days making paintings and drawings and evenings in cafes drinking espresso with Parisian artists. It was a great time in my life and I had a gallery show in Montmarte of the work I had made in India before returning to NYC.
In 2006 South France brought springtime bouquets of flowering forests. I rented a 200 year old farmhouse near a tiny village in the country and painted the incredible beauty surrounding me. My Mom, niece Jennifer and I traveled around Europe like gypsies and had the adventure of a lifetime in the car we purchased for 300 Euros (about $500). “Finding Bliss” (page 116-117) was painted after spending all night with a group of peace-keepers from the world over meditating on top of a mountain for world peace. It was one of the most powerful nights of my life and to attempt to put it into words would be impossible.
The majority of 2007 was spent painting in East Hampton, NY with a stunning studio up the road from Jackson Pollack’s old studio. I can understand why so many artists gravitate to this area as the light is truly spectacular. It was here that I painted “Night into Early Morning Glitter” (page 95) after spending the night in my studio and witnessing the sunrise
thru my skylights and window in the woods. I also painted what I consider my most successful painting to date “Long Life, Prosperity” (age 132-135) in this studio. I was fortunate to meet one of my painting idols, Chuck Close, while living in the Hamptons. He had just finished meeting, and then painting, a portrait of the Dalai Lama and we talked about Buddhism.
And in between adventures, I spent my time in my NYC studio painting and showing as much as possible. Many of the images in this book were made in my 8th street studio. I was just as inspired by the energy of NYC as anywhere else in the world. But, the city is also exhausting and can be a complete drain on one’s psyche. There was particularly bizarre incident when I had rented a room in my apartment to an unstable woman who subsequently decided my apartment was hers and tried everything in her power to have me removed. We had her arrested for stealing $12,000 from two young kids to whom she illegally sublet my apartment but the drama continued…I’ll save the rest of the story for another time. The point is, I decided to leave shortly thereafter.
In the winter of 2008 I moved my studio to a well lit loft an hour north of NYC where I spend time with my daughter, Isabella Grace, who inspires with every breathe. Isabella was born January 17, 2009 and she spends her free time exploring the richness of the brightly colored canvases that surround her. Our back yard is a 46,600 acre state park and this makes us very happy.
And although this book is an incomplete volume, each image tells a story and the stories are the color of our lives. Anything else you want to know about me can be found in my paintings.
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