Today we’d like to introduce you to Noah Beich
Hi Noah, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Drawing and making in general was something I always enjoyed doing. I have a lot of fond memories of learning to make duct tape wallets and going on to make them for my whole class as gifts. Then getting different colored rolls and making a top hat with a gold stripe, I thought it was the coolest thing ever and even tailored it to my giant Beich head! It wasn’t until my freshman year of high school that I got this new sense of fulfillment after making a drawing. Previously drawing was enjoyable but didn’t fill me with purpose. It was just something fun to do and pass the time, in the same way video-games or playing outside was.
By high school, a switch went off and now drawing had become something spiritual, something more than what was on the page. It’s hard to articulate the fulfillment you can get from drawing, people often compare it to religion and I find myself mostly agreeing with that. It evolved like a Pokémon from a fun hobby to a world I could enter and feel a sense of clarity about my existence. I cannot emphasize this shift enough, hence why I’m trying to articulate it in so many ways.
And while drawing is a largely personal act/practice I look back and give the utmost thanks to my extended, expansive, formidable, and large family for putting some wind in my sails to go forward with being an artist. Were they supportive you ask? No, hell no, to this day my aunts and uncles are hounding me to stop with this stupidity and become a doctor or software developer. But what they did do was take me from being a naturally quiet kid who spent many days after school alone in his room to an excited boy running around with a noisy and disorderly gaggle of cousins who taught him how to be more outspoken and expressive. And the key word there is expressive, because I am in the profession of expression and before being swept up I was drawn so inward I would have likely become some type of engineer or architect (please note: we here at Noah Beich LLC have nothing against engineers or Architects, please write your concerns to VoyageATL). And I can site so many examples of this shift, from in the literal sense my older cousin Ameer encouraging my earliest shitty drawings, to getting in Roman candle fights, and even peeing on huge stacks of pine needles because we just set them ablaze and didn’t want anybody to call the fire department. All of these memories and moments shifted my personality so deeply that I truly believe I am a completely different person, one who was bestowed the belief to be an artist because.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, when I think of a smooth road I imagine things which are far more straightforward i.e. going for a walk, cooking a meal, or getting through a workday. Something with a clear start and finish helps, but being an artist requires you to always show up in a way that differs from constantly having to feed yourself. Or maybe not, now that I’m writing it there’s actually a lot of overlap. I think people like myself who consider themselves “artists” have a type of hunger that almost everybody has to varying degrees. On the differing end I suppose is my understanding that art is much less predictable than the previously mentioned tasks we often find ourselves having to do. As well as that art is not a requirement to staying alive, but we know there are different levels to consciousness and art does sustain a larger bowl of consciousness.
However I digress on what being an artist is or is not, most of the struggles I face being an artist are very common, finding time to work, how to be effective as an artist, family disapproval, and the professional vs. personal aspects of an artistic career path.
The professional and personal aspects are what really challenge me these days. It can be really frustrating being an artist because at the end of the day all you really want to do, ideally, is make your work. I like to use the quote “you don’t become a rockstar to pay your taxes,” I think it sums up the unforetold and broader set of requirements to actually being an artist.
Making work is just the first step, you then have to rise to the occasion frequently and in fact step away from making art to fill out applications, market yourself, be a salesperson, consider your retirement, write about your work (which is particularly frustrating for someone like myself who prefers to make images), etc.. In some ways you have to love making art so much that you’re willing to hate it, you have to love it so much that you do it ad nauseum and become somewhat sick of it at times. You have to love it so much that you’re going out of your way to do the other necessary steps. In return you may possibly get a chance at making a career doing what you love but most importantly and why I continue making is a feeling that you get after completing work. It is indeed very satiating and scratches an itch very little else does in my life. It doesn’t happen every time but enough to keep me hooked, hence why I keep coming back to my desk with my “bowl” outstretched asking the drawing deities to bless me with more satisfaction.
(That’s a tip for you young artists out there, relinquish control, don’t hold on so tightly to a desired result that you crush other possibilities. Simply show up as much as you can.)
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
A lot of the work I’ve done this past year has been pretty straightforward. I’ve really boiled down my work to a visual experience, which all work in this field ultimately is. The best metaphor I have at the ready is in music, previously I was making “songs” with lyrics (the figurative/representational) and this past year has been primarily instrumentals (Abstraction). I’ve spoken a lot about the balancing act of personal and professional artistic pursuits, I think this work is a reflection of me having to grapple with chasing money. I’m looking forward to pursuing higher education where I won’t be bogged down by the need to sell work. But I think if you are in the position where you’re intending to profit off of your work, you should consider the ethics of what you’re doing.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Nope, I’m just very thankful for the opportunity to speak.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Noahbeich.com
- Instagram: @noahbeich
Image Credits
Chelsea Mukenya : The only picture with a figure in the center
https://www.chelseamukenya.com/
Model: @kareemfofana
Assist: @tym.jon @tobiwano
MUA: @5starglam_
