Lawrence Beck (American, b.1962) is a botanic photographer. Born in New York, NY, Beck studied at the SUNY College in Purchase, NY, from 1980 to 1984. He then attended Columbia University in New York to study film, French language, and culture from 1982 to 1983.
Known worldwide for his botanic photographs, Beck focuses on still-life images. Some of his photographs refer explicitly to different moments of art history: Dutch paintings from the 17th century, through his large-scale tulips portraits, and Impressionist paintings from 19th century, with water lilies. In his
Black and White series, he pays significant attention to picture grains, light effects, and contrasts to enhance the idea of nature imitating art. Beck always photographs flowers and plants frontally, and associates their Latin name with a nickname, which is the title of the artwork.
The photographer has held several solo exhibitions in many institutions around the world, including
Sonnabend Gallery in New York, NY; Metropolis in Lyon, France; Karyn Lovegrove Gallery in Los Angeles, CA; Galerie Rodolfe Janssen in Brussels, Belgium; Seomi Gallery in Seoul, Korea; and Projex Mtl Galerie in Montreal, Canada. He has participated in group exhibitions, such as Art Basel in Switzerland, Brussels Art Fair, Cologne Art Fair, and Paris Photo.
Beck currently lives and works in New York, NY.