Michael Beckner Art

Michael Beckner's studio — paintings and books

“We live in a concrete age and these are our landscapes. I'm always looking – at the light, at how the road goes, at the feeling it evokes.”

Portrait of Michael Beckner in his studio

About

Michael Beckner

Michael Beckner is a painter working in a loose, abstract idiom. Using a limited palette of greys, blues, and highlight, he returns again and again to the large, powerful objects that shadow everyday life — bridges, trucks, overpasses, ships.

His process begins in motion. A scene glimpsed while driving asks to be returned to. “I'm always looking,” he says, “at the light, at how the road goes, at the feeling it evokes.” The finished paintings hold onto that first glance — structure suggested rather than stated, weight carried in tone.

Beckner studied art at Berea College in Kentucky and pursued graduate work in painting at Virginia Commonwealth University. He lives and works in his studio, painting from the world he passes each day.

Based in Richmond, Virginia.

Selected Work

Painting 01

2024 · Oil on canvas

These paintings return to the structures that frame ordinary passage — bridges, overpasses, the low weight of freight. Worked in a limited palette, each begins as a glance held long enough to become a place. What remains is less a record than a feeling of light and distance.

Painting 01

Painting 02

2024 · Oil on canvas

These paintings return to the structures that frame ordinary passage — bridges, overpasses, the low weight of freight. Worked in a limited palette, each begins as a glance held long enough to become a place. What remains is less a record than a feeling of light and distance.

Painting 02

Painting 03

2023 · Acrylic on panel

These paintings return to the structures that frame ordinary passage — bridges, overpasses, the low weight of freight. Worked in a limited palette, each begins as a glance held long enough to become a place. What remains is less a record than a feeling of light and distance.

Painting 03

Painting 04

2023 · Oil on canvas

These paintings return to the structures that frame ordinary passage — bridges, overpasses, the low weight of freight. Worked in a limited palette, each begins as a glance held long enough to become a place. What remains is less a record than a feeling of light and distance.

Painting 04

Painting 05

2022 · Oil on canvas

These paintings return to the structures that frame ordinary passage — bridges, overpasses, the low weight of freight. Worked in a limited palette, each begins as a glance held long enough to become a place. What remains is less a record than a feeling of light and distance.

Painting 05

Painting 06

2022 · Acrylic on canvas

These paintings return to the structures that frame ordinary passage — bridges, overpasses, the low weight of freight. Worked in a limited palette, each begins as a glance held long enough to become a place. What remains is less a record than a feeling of light and distance.

Painting 06