Marion Glass: Senior Portfolio: Artist: Rick Begneaud

In searching once again for mixed media artists, I found Rick Begneaud this week. He creates collages/assemblages using appropriated images, strips of cloth, and paint. I'm drawn to the color and texture of his work, and I particularly enjoy his collages that incorporate a figure, bringing a human element to an otherwise abstract world.

While reading this brief biography found on his website, I made the interesting discovery that Begneaud is Robert Rauschenberg's nephew: The works of Rick Begneaud are born of place and experience. The impetus for his exotic, collaged inventions began in the heart of Cajun country where he was raised, and then later on, in his travels as the nephew / studio assistant / sidekick to the legendary Robert Rauschenberg. Frayed and bold fabrics seem perfectly right next to photographic reproductions and other ephemera, but most indicative of his “paintings” are the reverberating color and the sense of
formal composition turned on its head, leaps of faith that give the work their unique signature.

Gallery Owner, Don LeBlanc, states, “Rick’s got a very contemporary approach to image making. He uses found materials--patterns, fabrics, printed materials, appropriated photographs, diagrams. Ready-mades. He creates his own world on the surface of the work rather than painting a picture of the world.”

Rick Begneaud currently lives in California and continues to create and show his work. Please visit his website here, and check out a few of my favorites below.