Donald Beal's Provincetown Beech Forest Paintings at Prince Street Gallery

Donald Beal's exhibition at Prince Street Gallery in New York from January 7 through 25, 2003 featured large-scale paintings exploring the Provincetown Beech Forest. The show, his first at the gallery, included works like Woods, Dog and Rabbit and Dogwalker (Red Tree), which use strong verticals from trees to balance dappled light and shade. Beal's color sense, described as instinctual and lyrical, plays a structural role in maintaining a tension between abstraction and visual truth. Maura Coughlin noted in the exhibition brochure that the Beech Forest's shifting, horizonless landscape challenged Beal to develop a complex visual language. While pieces such as Swamp and Ladyslippers were seen as overly abstract, Family Outing stood out with a more somber, contemporary feel influenced by artists like David Parks and Richard Diebenkorn. The exhibition highlighted Beal's ability to orchestrate natural scenes with color without losing touch with reality.