Show Preview | Beecham, Tobey & Soukup

Jackson, WY
Astoria Fine Art, September 8-18

Jill Soukup, Orange Twist, oil, 44 x 56.

This story was featured in the September 2016 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art September 2016 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

This year Astoria Fine Art celebrates its 10th anniversary with an extensive summer schedule—a new show every 10 days. The festivities reach a pinnacle this month with a set of three concurrent solo shows for Greg Beecham, Joshua Tobey, and Jill Soukup. The shows coincide with the annual Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival (see page 48), which presents numerous art-related events over the course of 12 days.

Beecham’s fall solo show is a tradition at Astoria, and gallery owner Greg Fulton pairs artists that collectors request most frequently with, in his words, the “superstar in the world of wildlife.” This year, Tobey and Soukup join him in the climax to the summer show season. Beecham and Tobey visit the gallery on Friday, September 16, from 1 to 4 p.m. Soukup is present on Thursday, September 15, from 2 to 5 p.m.

Beecham, who has just received a fourth wildlife award at the Prix de West Invitational, presents six to 10 new works. “This show is that once-a-year chance to see a bunch of his originals together at once,” Fulton says. Beecham’s works depict the Rocky Mountain wildlife found around his Wyoming home, but he always has a surprise in store. This year a painting of a Siberian tiger splashing through water, the tips of its ears, back, and tail illuminated with Beecham’s signature touch, is among the offerings. “I paint whatever sings to me. I think whatever moves me to paint creates the best work,” he says. Such was the case with this tiger, which he observed while teaching a workshop at the Triple D Game Farm in Montana.

Tobey also presents new subjects and techniques in his bronze sculptures. The prolific artist, who typically produces 12 to 15 sculptures a year, has taken to creating one-of-a-kind bas-relief wall hangings. “It’s been an outlet for me as an artist. Art is all about play and discovery. This has been a great way to discover new subjects and compositions,” he says. Tobey has a selection of his favorite subjects, such as screech owls, coyotes, and squirrels, rendered in full three-dimensional bronze, while he introduces new subjects, such as kudu, in the wall hangings. Tobey encountered the kudu on a trip to Africa two years ago. “Mother Nature had a great time sculpting in Africa,” he muses. “The subjects are great for shape, form, movement, and personality.”

For her part, Soukup presents 10 to 15 new pieces that amply illustrate her versatility and proficiency with a brush, with works ranging from bison and horses to cowboys—she’s just begun delving into figurative works—as well as urban scenes. “One [subject] definitely influences the other,” Soukup says. “The texture of the coat of an animal will influence how I apply paint on a city scene. Cities are busy places, and there’s an intricate quality about them that translates to more complicated animal
pieces—there’s an architecture in that.”

Taken all together, the three solo shows represent the excellence that Astoria Fine Art has curated and cultivated over the past decade. —Ashley M. Biggers

contact information
307.733.4016
www.astoriafineart.com