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Kelly Beeman, wearing Tory Sport’s performance ribbed knit top, in her New York studio, photographed by Noa Griffel -
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Step into the new Tory Sport pop-up shop on 257 Elizabeth Street and, among the new performance activewear collection, vintage sport magazines and white lattice chairs, you’ll find four vibrant paintings featuring artistic takes on the new line. They’re the work of New York-based illustrator Kelly Beeman and, here, we get to know the talent as she tells us about her career, first art loves and the inspirations behind the Tory Sport collaboration.
My interest in art began when…
I started painting/drawing when I was a child – like most children do, I suppose. But I took it somewhat seriously at a young age. My mother did beautiful watercolor paintings of landscapes, and I used to watch her for hours, completely enthralled; I was probably about four or five years old.
My work is…
A cross between figurative painting and fashion illustration. My biggest influences are post-expressionist painters, and I incorporate fashion in my work because it is very relevant and ubiquitous in today’s world and it should therefore occupy a place in art.
Subjects I’m most drawn to…
I have always been drawn to figures and faces; it is very rare that I make a painting that doesn’t depict at least one figure. I also like to add organic elements to my paintings, so often my figures are holding a branch, flower, feather or something else. The figure is a tool that I use to draw people in. For me, drawing a figure is like bringing something to life; even though they’re kind of strange and otherworldly, they do have a certain sensitivity that makes them seem very human. Sometimes when I am drawing a face, even I feel pulled in by it as I am creating it, by this mysterious allure in the eyes. I don’t know if I could achieve that with an abstract painting, landscape, or still life…
When I work, I begin with…
It depends. If it’s a complex piece it will require some visual research, so I’ll search online for things that I want to include — a certain chair, or textile, clothing, plants… But if I am just working spontaneously I begin with a rough sketch of the face and neck (this just takes a second) and then those become paths from which every other line leads. I try not to plan the position of the figure before I begin drawing so that the lines just flow naturally and take form.
My art influences…
Picasso’s blue/rose period; New Objectivity portraiture, especially Christian Schad and Otto Dix; early fashion illustrators like Georges Lepape and Paul Iribe; turn-of-the-century Viennese graphic design and illustration, especially Mela Koehler postcards; Byzantine art; and classical sculpture.
We always had a lot of art history books when I was growing up, and I really enjoyed looking at them. But the first time I remember seeing an exhibit and getting really excited about it was Kiki Smith at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas — I was 12 years old and it was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. My first art love, as far as painters are concerned, was Picasso, especially the blue and rose periods. I was fascinated by the use of color in those paintings; in fact, I still am!
My favorite creatives to follow on Instagram…
@blairz — I love her wild painting style and the exaggerated facial features. @pploffashion is great because she does these cute, tiny little people wearing current runway looks. They both have such a different approach to drawing fashion and I like to see that variety when I going through my feed. I also follow a lot of designers, brands, photographers and magazines.
When I get the artist equivalent of writer’s block…
Artist block, for me, is when I don’t feel the life coming from my work and it seems pointless, but I try to work through it, which is sometimes really hard. I have filled entire sketchbooks in a day and thrown them away because there was nothing there worth saving. But I think it’s important to continue working and get that frustration out so that you can start afresh. I don’t believe in waiting for inspiration… I believe in practice, discipline, and making a lot of work that no one will ever see, so that when you make something really worthwhile, you know that it wasn’t an isolated event that may never happen again, but the product of your dedication. Artist block is much less likely to occur this way if you work this way…
The inspirations behind my paintings for Tory Sport…
As reference for the project, I used the Tory Sport lookbook and a 3D model of the store space, so that I could envision the paintings there in context. The team was really wonderful and gave me so much artistic freedom, so for inspiration I researched 1970s graphic design and sports imagery, and incorporated some of that into my style of painting. What resulted are paintings of women (all wearing the collection) standing in front of very bold, solid shapes of color. The color functions as an allusion to a sporty background or setting, such a tennis court or swimming pool. I experimented extensively with the tones, always trying to keep in mind the space, the collaborative effort made by everyone involved and how these paintings should fit into their concept seamlessly and still stand out at a distance, and up close. I am very happy with the way they turned out and cannot wait to see them again in the store!