Extraction & Equilibrium
Solo Show: Rhodes Contemporary art Gallery - London
Beck’s practice investigates the forms that emerge within negative space, translating them into abstract paintings on canvas. Drawing on a range of sources, this new series reflects the influence of long walks in the countryside, introducing shades of brown, green, and blue in a departure from his earlier monochromatic, city-oriented works. Each composition is organised through carefully balanced squares, rectangles, and lines, with the addition of colour functioning as a deliberate and considered element that complements the precision of his practice.
On these walks in nature, Beck takes photographs which form the inspiration for his works on canvas. This move from photograph to painting is a process of reduction; he draws from the visual material of his surroundings—such as the dense browns of earth or the clear blues of Nordic skies—but removes narrative and descriptive detail. What remains is a condensed, abstracted field he describes as a “distilled terrain.” Departing from the monochromatic restraint of his earlier exhibitions at RHODES, these new works introduce colour as a key architectural element. Here, colour operates as mass: weighted, spatial, and central to the construction of form. The distillation of nature into abstract shapes demonstrates the basis of his work in function rather than ornamentation, in a style that feels distinctly mid-century modern.
Each canvas is treated as a site of visual architecture. Through layered applications of saturated pigment, Beck builds surfaces with a strong material presence. A controlled tension emerges between the rigidity of geometric form and the tactile quality of paint. While clean lines and strict borders suggest structure and containment, the artist’s hand remains visible in the surface, introducing a subtle instability that offsets the precision of the compositions.
Rather than representing nature directly, Beck reworks it through a personal and formal language. By combining a disciplined geometric approach with a sensorial engagement with colour, light, and material, Extraction & Equilibrium offers a space of quiet contemplation—situated between structure and intuition, control and openness.
Studio 2026
inquiring contact - Rhodes Contemporary Art Gallery - London
Biography
Carsten Beck is a Danish artist and designer that originally worked in the fields of graphic design, illustration, and photography. When he began to experiment with translating his graphic sketches into oil on canvas and lithography in 2019, he became an overnight success in the international art world.
Beck depicts angular, geometric forms and twisting asymmetrical perspectives. Using oil paint to create his architectural language, he draws inspiration from Scandinavian minimalist and mid-century design to dominate sharp forms whilst still creating areas of negative space. Almost exclusively working in monochrome, the contrasting
