{"data":{"id":"14617","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":14617,"topgoose_id":2778,"tms_id":14617,"display_name":"Ericka Beckman","sort_name":"Beckman Ericka","display_date":"1951–","begin_date":"1951","end_date":"0","biography":"\u003cp\u003eWhen Ericka Beckman attended California Institute of the Arts in the 1970s, the school was forging a reputation for its rigorous, theory-based curriculum under the leadership of conceptual artist \u003ca href=\"/artists/55\"\u003eJohn Baldessari\u003c/a\u003e. After graduating, Beckman and fellow alumni \u003ca href=\"/artists/8221\"\u003eJack Goldstein\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"/artists/1149\"\u003eDavid Salle\u003c/a\u003e, and \u003ca href=\"/artists/3342\"\u003eAshley Bickerton\u003c/a\u003e relocated to New York, determined to invent new art forms for what they deemed an image-saturated world.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBeckman began to create films\nwith narrative structures that she likened\nto games or folklore. She shot elaborate\nperformances on crudely constructed\nsets, adding animation and chantlike\nmusic to evoke a fragmented, ambiguous\nexperience. Her techniques were often\nlabor-intensive, with multiple layers\nof film hand-altered and edited together\nto make the final piece. Critical response\nto Beckman’s early work was divided:\nin 1978 one critic called her “easily one of\nthe most interesting young filmmakers\naround,” while her appearance at the 1983\nNew York Film Festival earned jeers\nfrom the audience.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt was at this festival that Beckman debuted \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/45133\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eYou the Better\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e(1983), an absurdist meditation on competition in which a cast of two dozen performers, led by Bickerton, competes in a nonsensical gambling game that combines elements of basketball, dodgeball, and roulette (the \u003cem\u003eBetter\u003c/em\u003e of the title is a play on \u003cem\u003ebettor\u003c/em\u003e). Although the film features childlike primary colors, punchy animated graphics, sports lingo, and an upbeat jingle, Beckman twists these elements until they become menacing.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/collection/works/43893\"\u003e\u003cem\u003ePower of the Spin\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e is a preparatory study for \u003cem\u003eYou the Better\u003c/em\u003e. Beckman has said that such expressive, freehand drawings “allowed me to work directly from my imagination and try to see if any idea or motif from that realm could be transformed into a performance or prop sequence for a film.”\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500115971","wikidata_id":"Q18206701","created_at":"2017-08-30T17:35:49.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-03-31T07:00:28.644-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/14617/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/14617/exhibitions"}}}}