ArtZone 461 Gallery is pleased to announce the first solo show of Randy Beckelheimer’s large-scale oil paintings depicting the ever-changing face of urban San Francisco near and at the artists’ studio at the Hunters Point Shipyards (HPS).  HPS is a former military installation, a designated Superfund (toxic) clean-up site and currently home to the studios of hundreds of other San Francisco artists. 

The entire landscape of the shipyards is in flux.  Buildings and roads come and go.  There is an undetected urgency to complete the series.  Expansive canvases up to ten feet wide invite the viewer not merely to look but to step into the picture plane.  Meticulously painted to mimic nature, dramatic lighting in the clouds and skies heightens the experience.

For most of his career Randy Beckelheimer painted abstracts.  Influenced by Diebenkorn and Rothko, his monochromatic Color Field paintings explored subtle modulations of hue and application.  He formerly showed over twenty years with the Triangle Gallery in San Francisco.

In the past decade, the artist's interest in photographing the urban landscape caused a change in style.  He said, "In 2005 I began painting representational images. My love of Italian Renaissance painters also compelled me in this direction.  I tried to bring a renaissance quality of color and light to paintings concerned with creating an evidence of the desolate landscape". 

Beckelheimer's compositions evolve over months during the process of painting, which involves dozens of layers of oil paint and glazes. He also has a series of black and white paintings based on appropriated images, which relate to the history of the landscape surrounding the studio in Hunters Point.

A concurrent show of Beckelheimer's paintings is on view at 425 Market Street Lobby, San Francisco.