Noah Becker was something of a wunderkind in Victoria. Born in 1970, he enrolled at the Victoria College of Art at age 15, graduating in 1988.
Joseph Kyle was leading the school in the direction of pure abstraction; Bill Porteous, Becker鈥檚 drawing teacher, was plugged into the best of American art; Jim Gordaneer introduced him to oil paint. Though Becker has since pursued his career in New York, hobnobbing with the likes of Frank Stella, of his Victoria training he said: 鈥淵ou couldn鈥檛 have better painting and drawing teachers.鈥�
One day in 1988, Becker walked through the open door of Glenn Howarth鈥檚 studio, at 16 1脷2 Fan Tan Alley: 鈥淚 went up there 鈥� that was during my friendly and curious phase 鈥� and there was Glenn.鈥� Howarth showed Becker some of his paintings 鈥� women swimming underwater, seen from below.
鈥淚t was the kind of work that I like didn鈥檛 know existed in Victoria,鈥� he said, and immediately signed up for Howarth鈥檚 drawing classes. Becker soon moved with his studiomate Trevor Guthrie to a nearby space at 14 Fan Tan Alley.
鈥淚t seemed like it all happened so fast,鈥� Becker recalled, 鈥渓ike a whirlwind.鈥� Marlene Davis, a classmate who had been showing with the Fran Willis Gallery, introduced Becker to Michael Williams, and Williams, already a patron of Howarth, began to buy Becker鈥檚 paintings. The Williams Collection, now part of the University of Victoria鈥檚 Art Collections, includes more than 40 of Howarth鈥檚 works, and 13 of Becker鈥檚 from that period.
Soon Becker鈥檚 huge portrait of Tchaikovsky was hanging in the Royal Theatre, and he had a sold-out solo show in the Gold Room at Michael Williams鈥� Swans Pub. Then, while working for his parents鈥� shop, Herald Street Art World, Becker delivered a framing order to the original Winchester Gallery, and owner Bernie Raffo offered him a show.
Winchester was at the time the outlet of the Limners and many artists associated with the Victoria College of Art. Becker was showing beside work by Richard Ciccimarra, Herbert Siebner and Jack Wilkinson.
鈥淲ow 鈥� I鈥檒l never be that good,鈥� he thought at the time. Half way through his exhibition, Winchester was purchased by Gunter Heinrich and Anthony Sam. 鈥淏ernie kind of passed me on to them,鈥� Becker recalled.
Becker was full of ambition, as a painter and a saxophone player. His friends asked: 鈥淲hy are you hanging around here? Why don鈥檛 you go and conquer the world?鈥� He moved to New York for the first time in 1997, and from his new home in Brooklyn created art shows and played jazz.
鈥淚 was there during the George W. Bush presidency,鈥� he told me. 鈥淭he emphasis in America was on war, not on art: the war on terror, the war in Iraq. What I was doing was not the focus.鈥� Then in 2001, with the events of 9/11, 鈥渆verything went haywire. A lot of artists and musicians were out of a job.鈥� So he returned to Victoria.
From a base in Victoria, he pursued a wider career.
鈥淚 always wanted to have an international market, rather than the local thing,鈥� Becker explained. In the next 10 years, he exhibited in Vancouver, was presented by several American galleries, and regularly went to the Miami Art Fair and Art Basel. Then, a 鈥渢raumatic experience with a gallery鈥� made him realize that he couldn鈥檛 pursue an international career this way.
鈥淲e鈥檙e on an island and it鈥檚 remote,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou have to overcome the marginalization somehow.鈥� He returned to New York in 2009.
Back in 2005, he had read predictions of 鈥渢he end of the newspaper,鈥� and thought 鈥渢hat鈥檚 going to happen in the art world.鈥� So he began White Hot magazine, an online forum for art writing.
鈥淚t could have been called a dot.com,鈥� Becker ventured. But he called it a magazine, and it became widely imitated. Even so, it鈥檚 hard to make a living in the field.
鈥淣ow everybody is a publisher,鈥� he smiled. 鈥淭he publishing industry has gotten screwed up, just like the music industry 鈥� it鈥檚 just a free-for-all.鈥�
While he acknowledges the archaic nature of the medium, Becker continues to paint. Yet his mentor Howarth was a pioneer in 鈥渄igital painting鈥� in the early 1980s. Becker told me about a day when, as a kid obsessed with making art, he found Howarth absorbed in writing. He asked him: 鈥淲hen you are finished writing, are you going to get back to work?鈥� Howarth informed him 鈥渢hat is the work. It鈥檚 all the work.鈥�
It is interesting to note that another of Becker鈥檚 inspirations also spanned the divide between painting and digital media. Becker met Michael Morris in 1995. While Morris maintained an international career as a painter, in the early 1970s he had invented Image Bank, a communications forum acknowledged to have been听鈥渢he Internet without the Internet.鈥�
Becker said: 鈥淭hat was a lesson for me. I always thought it was about applying paint to canvas. Michael Morris didn鈥檛 see the divisions. He had his network everywhere.鈥�
Back in New York since 2009, Becker continues to paint and run听White Hot magazine (whitehotmagazine.com). As a painter, he takes clues from Breughel, Hieronymus Bosch and Goya. In his recent work, the narrative aspect has come to the fore, 鈥渢o slow the viewer down,鈥� as he says. His complex compositions give insight to his views on the interactions of people and how they live.
听
Noah Becker at Trounce Alley Gallery, 616 Trounce Alley, 250-217-8320, trouncealleygallery.com, until April 30.
