`Maine Art Now’ celebrates rich artistic life of state

MAINE ART NOW, Edgar Allen Beem, The Dog Ear Press, 303 pages, $27.50.

Edgar Allen Beem is a man of distinctions. As art critic for the Maine Times newspaper, he has made a living at distinguishing the artistic from the superficial, the vital from the inconsequential, and the beautiful from the bungling. His most ambitious contribution to Maine letters is “Maine Art Now,” a compendium of Beem’s critical writings from the last decade. Published by The Dog Ear Press in Gardiner, the collection is sure to become a token of artistic savvy on every coffee table in Maine.

The book is divided into four sections: biographies of artists, color plates, discussions of the Maine art scene and reviews of exhibitions. As Beem’s own readership has come to expect, the writing is always provocative and bold, filled with dauntless opinions that are somehow arrogant, amusing, intelligent and charming at the same time. Intrepid, dogged, committed, Beem is unquestionably one of Maine’s finest journalists.

This is, afterall, his job which he embraces with the tenacity of a thoroughbred Mainer, indeed, a native of Portland. His prose is completely and beautifully infused with the Maine landscape and coastline, and in the longer, biographical portraits, Beem’s language invokes Maine imagery with as much artistic skill as any respected Maine craftsman. The 22 biographies of artists, who are in some way indebted to Maine and to the rich artistic life celebrated here, are Beem’s most masterful canvases.

Beem is concerned about the artistic culture of Maine and goes to great lengths to define his use of the term “Maine art.” We can’t discard the regional tourist kitsch, he asserts, but we must turn an eye to the serious art, the art that has inserted Maine into the national and international interrogation of culture. Beem celebrates the inspiration of the “raw northeastern land” that fosters Maine art, but he knows the value of losing one’s regional identity, too. His sense of the relationship between geographical loyalty and continental dialogue is practical and balanced.

Even though Beem’s book undoubtedly has local value — as both a reference guide and a theoretical/historical discussion of the Maine art scene — it seems unlikely that the book will find its way onto coffee tables outside the state. The primary audience will most likely be within the state line: artists, professors, students and other journalists, who respect Beem’s approach but have also come to know that Beem is as committed to promoting himself as he is to promoting Maine art.

For the Edgar Allen Beem fan and the many artists he immortalizes in print, “Maine Art Now” is a treasury of joys. For others, it might be a bit heavy-handed, a bit too academic and jargonish. No matter what our stance, however, we must be appreciative of Beem’s work and efforts. He is, of course, giving credence to art in Maine and is an indisputable crusader for the arts in general.