David Beckman

David Beckman

David is a contemporary sculptor whose work reflects on memory, environment, and the quiet resonance of form. Rooted in the physicality of materials, his practice is shaped by an ongoing dialogue with process—cutting, casting, shaping, and refining. He creates objects that hold space for contemplation, where surface and silhouette respond to the way light reveals and conceals.

With a background in higher education and hands-on experience in foundry work, David’s approach is deeply informed by technical knowledge and collaboration. He has spent years guiding students and maintaining sculpture facilities, experiences that have sharpened his sensitivity to material behavior and the discipline of craft. His sculptures often emerge from this mix of mentorship, repetition, and studio experimentation.

Now based on the West Coast, David continues to build a body of work that balances intuition and precision. His forms invite close looking—each piece standing as both a resolved object and an invitation to reflect. Through his practice, he hopes to create a quiet space where others might recognize something of themselves.

Artist Statement

My work explores the fragile relationship between memory, place, and identity through form, surface, and structure. I am drawn to the way light interacts with physical materials—how it grazes edges, pools in recesses, or dissolves hard boundaries. These subtle exchanges between light and matter become entry points for reflecting on impermanence, perception, and the quiet imprint of lived experience.

Each sculpture begins with a moment of recognition—an emotional impulse or fragment of space that lingers. I rarely work from a fixed plan; instead, I let the materials and their resistance shape the direction. Additive and subtractive processes, revisions, and intuitive shifts mirror the way we construct and revise memory. The tension between precision and unpredictability is integral to my practice, creating objects that feel at once intentional and unresolved.

Ultimately, my work invites a tactile encounter—a pause to observe how volume, surface, and shadow resonate in space. I want the viewer to move with the piece, to notice how its presence changes with light or proximity, and to bring their own associations to the forms. By grounding abstraction in material experience, I aim to evoke reflection through quiet, physical intimacy.

Selected Achievements

2018

Art Department Faculty Biennial

Group exhibition at Fullerton College Art Gallery, Fullerton, CA

Sculpture Studio Technician

Fullerton College Sculpture Lab, Fullerton, CA

Arduino Developer

Stage Model for Facebook F8 Conference (FNTech), Fullerton, CA

Arduino Technician

Custom Arduino Programming with Jim Jenkins, Costa Mesa, CA

2017

Technician Collaborator

Interactive media development with Jim Jenkins, Fullerton, CA

Studio Assistant

Thomas Houseago Studio, Los Angeles, CA

2016

B.F.A. in Sculpture

California State University, Fullerton

Senior Solo Exhibition: "Emotive Perceptions"

Exit Gallery, California State University, Fullerton

Roger’s Lake Residency Exhibition

Flagstaff Contemporary and Modern Art Gallery, Flagstaff, AZ

Roger’s Lake Artist Residency

Flagstaff, AZ — Research and production in remote desert studio environment

Collaborative Installation

With artist Gavin Scott on "Yellow Submarine," Los Angeles, CA

2014

Fullerton College Student Art Exhibition

Fullerton College Art Gallery, Fullerton, CA

2013

Foundational Art Studies and Studio Arts

Fullerton College, CA

Fullerton College Student Art Exhibition

Fullerton College Art Gallery, Fullerton, CA