Hedy O’beil’s latest paintings were inspired by a new environment when
she moved to Westbeth in January, 2000. Situated on the eleventh floor, with an
unobstructed view of the city below and the sky above, her work, which
previously contained metaphoric still life objects, became totally abstract.
The sense of space predominates in the new work, layered with gestured
brush strokes, spontaneous lines and marks. She continues to use charcoal in
her paintings, but now the lines no longer present particular images, but are
purely expressive of the moment.
She has for years been fascinated by ancient cultures, their myths, religious ceremonies, their icons and the mysterious, evocative sound of the names given to the early pre-Greek cities, as well as the area of the Fertile Crescent, where much of civilization began.
The beginnings; the primal, the basic language, the life force, what it is to be human, the mystery and the “not-knowing,” are some of the things that she has been searching, exploring, wanting to express in her work.
Hedy O’Beil is a recipient of the Richard Florsheim Foundation Grant. She has been a Fellow at Yaddo and the Cummington Community of the Arts. She received a scholarship at Bob Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop, and spent a number of summers at the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center. She attended The Brooklyn Museum Art School, Art Students League, The Skowhegan School of Art, and has an M.A. from Goddard College and B.S. from CUNY. Her paintings and drawings were shown in one-person exhibitions at the Heckscher Museum in Huntington, L I., Guild Hall, East Hampton (recipient of 1st award in painting), Barbara Ingber Gallery, Landmark Gallery, Oswego State College, Nassau Community College, Hofstra University (1st award-graphics) and numerous group exhibitions including La Mama Gallery, Katherina Rich Perlow Gallery, Levitan Gallery, Judy Heller Gallery, Provincetown, Elaine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, Arlene Bujese Gallery in East Hampton, Columbus Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum and The Savannah College of Art & Design.