Ford Beckman rose to prominence in the New York art scene of the late 1980s. Beckman was deeply committed to his faith and regarded his artwork as a celebration of that faith. His first New York exhibitions were well received, both critically and commercially. His spare reductive black and white paintings on plywood caught the attention of collectors including Peter Brant, Charles Saatchi and Count Guiseppe Panza with Panza becoming his largest collector, eventually owning 50 works by Beckman. In 1992, at Hans Mayer Gallery, Dusseldorf, Beckman debuted his Pop Paintings series: both disturbing and familiar, these paintings were based on mass-produced images of clowns. Artnews quoted Beckman, "The clown is the perfect icon of our time-wonderful and joyous to some, frightening and nightmarish to others." From his friendship with Cy Twombly, in 1994 emerged the "La Roma" paintings, many of which were produced while working in Twombly's studio in Gaeta. While still using plywood panels as a support, a signature throughout his career, the exuberant color, organic forms and gestural drawing of this series paid homage to Twombly.
Ford Beckman (1952 - 2014) spent the last decades years of his life living and working in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His work has been exhibited internationally and is included in such notable public collections as Panza Collection, Italy; Saatchi Collection, London; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Israeli Museum, Jerusalem; Essl Collection, Vienna, among others.