Noah Becker#Career and projects

{{Infobox person

| name = Noah Becker

| image = Noah Becker.jpg

| image_size =

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| caption =

|module={{Infobox musical artist|embed=yes

| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist

| instrument =saxophone

| genre=Jazz}}

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| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1970}}

| birth_place = Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.

| citizenship = (dual) American and Canadian{{cite news |last=Maidman |first=Daniel |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-maidman/q0-daniel-maidman-and-noa_b_3375866.html |title=Q0: Daniel Maidman and Noah Becker in conversation |work=Huffington Post |date=2013-04-06 |accessdate=2014-08-15 }}

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| occupation = Artist, painter, art writer, publisher, musician

| website = {{URL|noahbeckerart.com}}

}}

Noah Becker (born 1970){{cite web |url=http://artvoicesmagazine.com/contributors/ |title=Contributing Artists / Writers |work=Art Voices magazine |accessdate=2014-08-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150216044126/http://artvoicesmagazine.com/contributors/ |archive-date=2015-02-16 |url-status=dead }} is an American and Canadian artist, writer, publisher of Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art, and jazz saxophonist who lives and works in New York City and Vancouver Island.{{cite news |last=Lanthier |first=Nancy |url=https://vancouversun.com/entertainment/Galleries+This+Week+Noah+Becker+Martha+Varcoe+Sturdy+Kelly/9812596/story.html |title=Art This Week: Noah Becker, Martha Varcoe Sturdy and Kelly Lycan |work=The Vancouver Sun |date=2014-05-06 |accessdate=2014-08-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140827124645/http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Galleries+This+Week+Noah+Becker+Martha+Varcoe+Sturdy+Kelly/9812596/story.html |archive-date=2014-08-27 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://artefuse.com/2013/05/30/interview-with-artist-noah-becker/ |title=Ten questions for Artist Noah Becker |last=Martinez |first=Jamie |work=Arte Fuse |date=2013-05-30 |accessdate=2014-08-15 }}{{cite news |url=http://ladygunn.com/art-3/noah-becker |title=Noah Becker |last=Tron |first=Gina |work=Ladygun |date=2013-04-09 |accessdate=2014-08-15 }}{{cite web |url=http://momaps1.org/studio-visit/artist/noah-becker |title=Noah Becker |work=MoMA PS1 |accessdate=2014-08-15 }} He has written for Art in America Magazine, Canadian Art Magazine, VICE, Interview Magazine, The Guardian UK, and the HuffPost.{{cite web |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/noah-becker/ |title=Noah Becker |work=Huffington Post |accessdate=2014-08-15 }}

Early life and education

Becker was born in Cleveland, Ohio and grew up on a 40-acre farm on Thetis Island, off the coast of British Columbia, Canada.{{cite news |last=Griffin |first=Kevin |url=http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2014/05/21/noah-becker-challenging-traditional-portraits-as-heroic-figures/ |title=Noah Becker: challenging traditional portraits as heroic figures |work=The Vancouver Sun |date=2014-05-21 |accessdate=2014-08-15 }} He moved with his family to Victoria, British Columbia, at age 15, after their house burned down. He had little early formal education and did not attend high school. He was a student at Victoria College of Art, and completed a year studying saxophone at Humber College,{{cite journal |title=Player, Painter, Publisher: Noah Becker's Career Is Whitehot |journal=Boulevard |date=2010 |last=Gibbs |first=Rick |issue=May/June 2010 |pages=60–63 |url=http://issuu.com/boulevardlifestylesinc/docs/may-jun-2010# |accessdate=2014-08-15 }} before moving to New York in 2004, where he befriended saxophonist Ornette Coleman in 2011. {{cite web |url=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/take-five-with-noah-becker-noah-becker-by-aaj-staff.php |title=Take Five With Noah Becker |work=All About Jazz |date=2009-07-17 |accessdate=2014-08-15 }} Becker made a short film with Coleman available to watch on Youtube.

''Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art''

Becker is the founder and editor-in-chief of Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art, an online contemporary art magazine that was established in 2005. Becker has published over 700 art writers generating over 6500 articles on contemporary art in Whitehot Magazine. Notable art writers and critics who have written in the past or currently write for Whitehot Magazine include: Shana Nys Dambrot, Paul Laster, Donald Kuspit and Anthony Haden-Guest. {{cite web|accessdate=2019-07-03|title=The best art websites|url=https://www.timeout.com/newyork/art/top-art-websites|website=Time Out New York|date=30 January 2018 }} Becker has interviewed or collaborated with hundreds of prominent contemporary artists including: Frank Stella, Neo Rauch and Spencer Tunick.

The Best Art in the World: 20 Years of Noah Becker's Whitehot Magazine - a 200 page hardcover compilation of 80 articles from Whitehot will be published internationally by Anthem Press in July 2025.

The book features interviews and reviews. Selected interviews in the book are with collector Beth Rudin DeWoody, Bill Viola, Spencer Tunick, KAWS, Shepard Fairey and the David Zwirner represented painter Neo Rauch

Art

Becker lives and works in New York City and Vancouver Island.{{cite news |last=Maliszewski |first=Lynn |url=http://www.nyartsmagazine.com/?p=13247 |title=Trying Not to Think Too Much: the Work of Noah Becker |work=NYArts |date=2013 |accessdate=2014-08-15 }} His oil paintings have been exhibited in numerous museums, galleries, and major art fairs in Canada, the United States and Europe, including in New York City,{{cite web |url=http://hyperallergic.com/66445/scope-new-york-brings-the-streets-to-the-fair/ |title=Scope New York Brings the Streets to the Fair |last=Colucci |first=Emily |work=Hyperallergic |date=2013-03-08 |accessdate=2014-08-15 }} Los Angeles, Detroit,{{Cite web |url=http://blog.expositionchicago.com/art-seen-national/oakland-university-art-gallery-the-roving-eye/ |title=Oakland University Art Gallery: The Roving Eye |website=Exposition Chicago |access-date=2013-07-28 |archive-date=2014-05-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140506234716/http://blog.expositionchicago.com/art-seen-national/oakland-university-art-gallery-the-roving-eye/ |url-status=dead }} London,{{cite news |url=http://artdaily.com/section/news/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=62906#.U-5LpGMlDIV |title=Stranger: An exhibition of self-portraits and their aesthetic value opens at Flowers Gallery in London |work=ArtDaily |date=2013-07-05 |accessdate=2014-08-15 }} Vancouver,{{cite web |url=http://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/the_exhibitions/exhibit_how_soon_is_now.html |title=How Soon Is Now |work=Vancouver Art Gallery |date=2009 |accessdate=2014-08-15 }} Toronto,{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&tkr=RY:US&sid=aStnpT.lv0vo |title=RBC announces semi-finalists in the eleventh annual RBC |work=Bloomberg News |date=2009-06-22 |accessdate=2014-08-15 }} Montreal, Miami and Switzerland. He had a New York solo exhibition in November, 2013. Becker has a 2024 solo exhibition opening in NYC at Not For Them. Becker also shows his work with Kelly McKenna Gallery in the NY area and Gallery Merrick in Victoria BC. Becker attended the DESTE Foundation's George Condo opening on Hydra Island in Greece in 2024, hosted by legendary Greek art collector Dakis Joannou. Other attendees included artists Jeff Koons and Maurizio Cattelan.

Becker made international headlines after co-organizing an art show of Anna Sorokin's drawings and working on it with her while she was still in jail. The show "Free Anna Delvey" took place on the lower east side of Manhattan.

Noah Becker's paintings have been written about by legendary NYC writers such as Donald Kuspit and Anthony Haden-Guest.

Music

Becker's first album, Where We Are, from 2000 features guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel.

Becker's recent 2024 quartet album [https://open.spotify.com/album/1oj0L8mPmNlFm46C0jA1X4 Mode For Noah] reached the top 10 most added on the Jazzweek 2024 US Jazz radio chart. Mode for Noah features an all Canadian backing band of Brent Jarvis on piano, Kosma Busheikin on Bass and Graham Villette on drums and Becker on alto saxophone.

Becker as a sideman has recorded with Canadian hip hop artist Moka Only. Rosenwinkel and Only also contributed music to the soundtrack of New York Is Now, Becker's 2010 documentary on the New York art scene. Becker performed with saxophonist David Murray at New York City's jazz club The Village Vanguard in 2018.{{cite news |last=Zimmer |first=Lori |url=http://art-nerd.com/newyork/video-noah-beckers-new-york-is-now/ |title=Video: Noah Becker's New York Is Now |work=Art Nerd New York |date=2014-04-23 |accessdate=2014-08-15 }}

Awards

In 2009, Becker was one of 15 artists nominated for the RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) Painting Prize. This exhibition toured Becker's painting to Musée D'Art Contemporain De Montréal and the Power Plant in Toronto.

NYArts magazine named him as one of their 30 Artists To Watch in 2012.{{cite news |url=http://www.nyartsmagazine.com/?p=8896 |title=30 Artists To Watch in 2012: Part III |work=NYArts |date=2012 |accessdate=2014-08-15 }}

Becker was awarded second prize in the College Arts 86’ competition judged by Canadian artist Alex Colville

Becker's work is in The Michael C. Williams Collection of the Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery at the University of Victoria in Saanich, British Columbia,{{cite web |url=http://www.maltwood.uvic.ca/mcwvancouver/about.html |title=About Exhibit |last=Tuele |first=Nicholas |work=The Williams Legacy: Contemporary Art of the Pacific Northwest |publisher=University of Victoria |date=2013-03-08 |accessdate=2014-08-15 }} and was added to the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, in May, 2014.{{cite news |last=Mitchell |first=Grady |url=http://scoutmagazine.ca/2014/05/08/seen-in-vancouver-496-noah-beckers-show-at-east-hastings-back-gallery-project/ |title=SEEN IN VANCOUVER #496 : Noah Becker's Show At East Hastings' Back Gallery Project |work=Scout magazine | location=Vancouver |date=2014-05-08 |accessdate=2014-08-15 }}