THE PARRISH ART MUSEUM ANNOUNCES TONY BECHARA: AN ARTIST OF MANY WORLDS
The artist’s first-ever comprehensive survey, spanning six decades of work, to open this summer as part of PARRISH USA250
June 27–November 1, 2026
Water Mill, NY June 4, 2026 – The Parrish Art Museum is proud to present Tony Bechara: An Artist of Many Worlds, the first institutional survey of the Puerto Rican artist’s work and career. Over the course of six decades, Bechara charted new modes of abstraction informed by a broad range of art historical canons, encompassing an expansive and intersectional approach to artmaking.
“Tony Bechara: An Artist of Many Worlds feels poignant as the Parrish both celebrates the 250th anniversary of the United States and also provides due recognition to Bechara’s artistic legacy. Bechara’s work is a synthesis of art historical traditions, global influences and an abstract language spanning time and space. Beyond his career as an artist, he was also a remarkable arts advocate and leader. Bechara was an outspoken, graceful, and elegant advocate for Latinos, Latinas, Latinx, and Latin American artists and an extremely powerful institutional voice. We are proud to welcome his work back to the East End where he spent many evenings surrounded by artist, museum professional, and collector friends,” said Dr. Mónica Ramírez-Montagut, Executive Director of the Parrish Art Museum.
“Bechara’s impact extended far beyond his work through his roles at organizations like El Museo del Barrio, Studio in a School, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music—his advocacy for creativity and artist inclusion paralleled his own artistic pursuits. Bechara found inspiration in his many studies and travels around the globe—drawing his vibrant palette from a richly lived life. His work reminds us how it is possible to find harmony and community amongst a diverse array of ideas and perspectives,” said Kaitlin Halloran, Associate Curator and Publications Manager.
Working across mediums, including painting, sculpture, and prints, An Artist of Many Worlds examines and illustrates Bechara’s development and commitment to his innovative visual language. His vernacular, primarily utilizing the grid, recalls everything from twentieth-century modernism to Islamic decorative arts to the mosaics of Byzantine antiquity. Despite their carefully rendered appearances, Bechara’s approach was extremely analog. His method centered on a four-step process of meticulously covering the canvas with masking tape in a grid format, eventually painting thousands of boxes or “pixels” into oscillating compositions. Through the structure of the grid, Bechara found endless ways to explore color and form.
This survey begins in the late 1960s at the start of Tony’s career as an artist. Originally a law student, Tony turned to studying history in Paris before returning to New York to study art at the School of Visual Arts. His passion for various corners of culture would inform his work throughout his career. In early works such as Untitled (1969), Bechara was already developing a highly chromatic, hard-edge style of abstraction. Eventually, this gave way to the grid in the following decade. Utilizing complex equations to determine his compositions, later works like Quadrant 4 (2024) are highly sophisticated in their subtle interplays of color and light and engaging the viewer’s eye.
Throughout his career, Bechara also returned to history as a source of inspiration and a framework to expand upon. In Grey Tondo II (2009), the circular canvas swirls in motion. Painted entirely in shades of grey, Bechara’s Tondo points not just to the legacy of hard-edge abstraction but to pointillism, the tondos of the Florentine Renaissance, and the grisaille studies of artists from Giotto to Ingres. Like their rich surfaces, Bechara’s work layers and connects disparate histories into a seamless visual harmony.
Alongside his career as an artist, Bechara was an equally important institutional leader, educator, and patron. Most known for his leadership of El Museo del Barrio, he guided and grew the museum into a leading platform for Latin American artists over the course of 15 years. In the process, he highlighted and brought attention to the careers of artists such as Carmen Herrera and countless others.
Tony Bechara: An Artist of Many Worlds is part of the Museum’s PARRISH USA250: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, a year-long program organized in response to the United States’ semiquincentennial in 2026. The USA250 exhibition series—including Bechara’s presentation—reflects on the nation’s history and founding values, examines our present moment, and imagines new ways of moving forward, while acknowledging the contributions of East End and regional artists to the broader landscape of American art and culture.
Eliciting a dialogue with the Declaration of Independence’s assertion of “the pursuit of happiness” as one of our inalienable rights, An Artist of Many Worlds proposes that Bechara’s contributions as a Latino/Hispanic artist to American culture—and his own “pursuit of happiness”—have yielded a language of both self-determination and inclusion.
The exhibition’s opening will coincide with the one-year anniversary of Bechara’s passing. In Fall 2026, a monograph on Bechara’s work will be published that includes an essay by Domitille d’Orgeval, an interview between Bechara and Hans Ulrich Obrist, a detailed chronology and exhibition history, and a complete plate section.
Upcoming Programs
Sunday, June 28, 11 AM | Member Opening Reception
Sunday, June 28, 11:30 AM | Curator-led Tour
Friday, August 21, 3 PM | Curator-led Tour
Tony Bechara: An Artist of Many Worlds is co-organized by Mónica Ramírez-Montagut, Ph.D., Executive Director and Kaitlin Halloran, Associate Curator and Publications Manager.
Exhibition Support
Tony Bechara: An Artist of Many Worlds is made possible, in part, thanks to the generous support of The Estate of Tony Bechara; Steven Pesner in memory of his wife Michèle and his friend Tony Bechara; Lisson Gallery; Maria Eugenia Maury; Karla Harwich; Luis A. Miranda Jr.; Dr. Monica Ramirez-Montagut; Dr. Teresa Ramirez-Montagut and Annaliese Pew; Francisco ‘Frankie’ Bechara and family; and Warren James.
The Parrish Art Museum’s programs are made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and by the property taxpayers from the Southampton Union Free School District and the Tuckahoe Common School District.
Image Caption (top): Tony Bechara (Puerto Rican, 1942–2025) Untitled, 1969, Oil on canvas, 24 x 36 © Estate of Tony Bechara, Courtesy Lisson Gallery
