'Tony Bechara: An Artist of Many Worlds' at The Parrish Art Museum, NY, USA
1 June 2026
From 27 June – 1 November 2026, Tony Bechara: An Artist of Many Worlds is the first-ever comprehensive survey of this Puerto Rican artist, including works from his later years and exploring his career-long dedication to color theory and abstraction. Born in Puerto Rico and based in New York City, Bechara (1942–2025) drew on his bilingual and bicultural upbringing, his studies in law and international relations, his long stays in Europe and the Hamptons, and his characteristic, enduring curiosity to become a man of many worlds—seeking light and illumination in far corners of the globe and across its diverse cultures.
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. Bechara’s unifying pictorial strategy understood as an expression of the pursuit of happiness, offers a personal yet prophetic visual model for inclusion and collective possibility—one that strengthens the broader fabric of American art and culture.
Comprising over fifty works, this survey celebrates the accomplished artist’s evolving style across multiple media throughout his sixty-plus year career. Archival drawings, artist-made color formulas, photographs, exhibition catalogs and announcements, will accompany a detailed chronology highlighting Bechara’s illustrious life and career. This first-ever career-spanning retrospective of the artist is timed to coincide with the one-year commemoration of Bechara’s passing and will feature an independently published monograph 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.
Find out more via The Parrish Art Museum here.
Image: Tony Bechara, Quadrant #4 (70 Colors), 2025, Acrylic on canvas, 152.4 x 152.4 x 5.1 cm, 60 x 60 x 2 in © Tony Bechara, Courtesy Lisson Gallery
