Art at SLMath Closing Reception - Stephen Beal

RSVP for Art at SLMath Closing Reception featuring Stephen Beal

Wednesday, July 8, 2026 from 5:30-7:30pm Pacific Time
Free & Open to the Public
Art on display throughout the 2nd floor

Address: Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute (SLMath - formerly MSRI), 17 Gauss Way, Berkeley, CA 94720 (Google Maps)

View Directions and Parking Information | UC Berkeley Campus Shuttle Schedule

Reception Location: SLMath (Shiing-Shen Chern Hall), 2nd Floor Commons Room & Outdoor Deck

The general public and SLMath visitors are welcome to join us to celebrate the opening of our newest art exhibit on Thursday, May 1, 2025 from 5:30-7:30pm (doors close 8:00pm) at the 2nd floor commons room and deck. This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

About the Exhibit

The grid — ubiquitous, logical, resolute, infinite — acts as inspiration, structure, and image in Stephen Beal’s work. In these paintings, the penciled matrices function as vehicles to explore the subtleties of color and brush stroke. Beal’s interest in the surface quality of paint, and its physical interaction with and manipulation of the grid, is what transforms his canvases into methodical, material studies with an undeniable presence. His paintings bring a musicality to the measured world of the grid.

Beal puts his shapes and motifs in conversation, energizing and subverting the graphic quality of his compositions. Rich exchanges occur across multiple axes: the artist’s hand traverses the vertical and horizontal—warp and weft—of the grid while also exploring a third dimension that oscillates between pencil plane and paint plane. With grid as structure and paint as subject, this collection of work offers a musical reflection on an illustrious visual form.

About the Artist

Stephen Beal lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. His work has been widely exhibited at George Lawson Gallery, Mark Wolfe Contemporary Art, Bucheon Gallery, Chicago Cultural Center, Galereya A3, Oliver Art Center, and School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Beal served as President of California College of the Arts (CCA) from 2008-2023, before which he was the provost.