A recording of the Zoom talk with artist John Beard in conversation with Johnny Messum and a preview of his work as he prepares for his forthcoming Messums’ shows.

Messums is delighted to represent the important contemporary painter John Beard, whose work has been exhibited worldwide and is held in the collections of major gallery museums and institutions, and to welcome to the gallery for his first UK show since 2013. John will be our artist-in-residence in Wiltshire this September, followed by solo exhibitions February 2021 (London) and in May 2021 (Wiltshire). Join us on Zoom to hear John in conversation with Johnny Messum and a preview of his work as he prepares for the shows.

John Beard’s work has been exhibited worldwide and is held in the collections of major gallery museums and institutions including The Tate, The National Gallery of Australia, The Art Gallery of New South Wales and The Gulbenkian’s Centro de Arte Moderna in Lisbon, Portugal.

Born in Aberdare, Wales in 1943, Beard studied at the University of London and the Royal College of Art. Beard has had a distinguished teaching career throughout England and Australia co – producing and appearing in a series of programmes for BBC 2 television in the UK . In 1989. he resigned from teaching in order to devote his full attention to his practice, Beard traveled extensively, living and exhibiting in New York, Madrid, Lisbon and London before establishing a Sydney base in 1997.

In 1998 he was Artist -in-Residence and his work was the subject of a solo exhibition titled After Adraga at the Tate St Ives in the UK. In 2000/1, His work Wanganui Heads was selected to represent the year ‘1998’ in The London National Portrait Gallery’s Painting the Century, a Hundred years of Portrait Masterpieces. In 2002, Beard exhibited in HEAD ON: Art with the Brain in Mind, at The Science Museum, London, England. He held a solo exhibition titled After Adraga II at the The Gulbenkian’s Centro de Arte Moderna in Lisbon, Portugal, and at The Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. In 2010 a large body of work titled Gesichtlos- die Ästhetik des Diffusen/ Faceless- the aesthetics of Diffusion, was exhibited at Kunsthalle Darmstadt in Germany. In 2013 he exhibited at The Royal Academy of Art’s exhibition titled ‘Australia’ .His most recent solo shows in London have been at Hales Galley and at The Fine Art Society Gallery.

In 2010 he became a Trustee of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. In 2011 a major monograph of his work was published and launched in London at The Royal Academy of Art by Charles Saumarez Smith and in Sydney, at The AGNSW by Edmund Capon. In 2013 he exhibited at The Royal Academy of Art’s exhibition titled ‘Australia’. His most recent solo shows in London have been at Hales Galley and at The Fine Art Society Gallery, both in London.In 2016 he returned to the UK and established a home and studio in London. The artist now divides his time between London and Sydney.