The social themes of much of Beck's work can be construed as provocative, but it is his style that most provokes gallery goers. He paints in a traditional, lush naturalism, a style originally developed to glorify the human form. Beck's naked people often seem entirely too convincing for contemporary comfort.

Dan Bischoff, New Jersey Star Ledger

Martin Beck is a noted artist whose exhibitions have been reviewed in ArtPapers, The New York Times, and The New Jersey Star Ledger. Beck¹s work has also been featured in American Artist, (July 1999). He received a B.F.A. from S.U.N.Y. Buffalo in 1986 and an M.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon University in 1992. Beck was awarded two New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowships, in 1994 and 2000.

Beck¹s work has been on display in solo exhibitions at the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH; The Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ; and the Birke Gallery, Marshall University, Huntington, WV, among others. Group exhibitions include 27 Curators at Concept Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA; La Linea Dibujos Contemporaneos, at Museo de Art Moderno de la Republica Dominica, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Figure and Symbol, at Marymount Manhattan College, New York, NY; and X-Sightings, Anderson Gallery, Buffalo, NY.

Known for his panoramic paintings of suburban middle-class white culture, Martin Beck has completed a new series of pastel drawings called "Black Drawings," inspired by Francisco de Goya¹s "Black Paintings" from the Quinta del Sordo. The "Black Drawings" deal with personal identity and history, violence, and sexuality. The work is radical and can be disturbing. It has also been called beautiful, and can evoke powerful emotions.

...In the past the artist's work has provoked controversy, most recently in a show last year in Jersey City where two pieces deemed offensive were removed, then re-instated in the exhibition. "Art appeals most to the mind, Beck pointed out, 'and I guess some people think ideas are dangerous."