New Drippy Surreal Portraits from Akira Beard

Detroit based artist Akira Beard has a self-described obsession with the human face and hot color palettes. When we last saw him, he was living in San Francisco and celebrating his ‘American Inconomics” show (featured here). His drippy, surreal watercolors break apart the expressions of iconic faces into studies of anatomy and skin tone. Among these are cult film characters and humanitarian heroes he admires, from Scarface to Jesus. If it weren’t for the handwritten quotes and doctrines painted into the background, some of them might be unrecognizable. Beard is more interested in “visual expressions of the self”, or rather, focusing on his subject’s spirit. Recently, his paintings have explored and expressed the writings of Taoism. Beard found himself drifting away from it in daily life. His new work is an effort to find his way back and capture the everyday inspiration in his readings and travels. He faithfully archives these experiences at his blog. Like looking into an abstract mirror, here are some reflections of Beard’s life to date.

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