Local legend has it that when gallery owner Suzanne Brown spotted a sculpture of a black-and-white cow balancing upside down on a toy ball, it was love at first sight.

But at about 8 feet tall, the humorous "Hollywood Power Cow" was too big for Brown's gallery at 7160 Main St. in Scottsdale.

The solution? She opened a second gallery with higher ceilings across the street: Suzanne Brown Contemporary.

Three years later, the huge sculpted cows and other creatures are the site's signature pieces.

Their creator is Mark Beam, 33, a former stand-up comedian who traded the terrors of the stage for the more private uncertainties of the visual artist.

"My approach to the kind of art that I make is intertwined with comedy writing and the way that you think to conceive jokes," Beam says. "It's the element of surprise, set-up and the punch. ... Visually, I don't set out to do exactly the same thing, but I think there is some relation between the two."

Straightforward Story

Upbeat art that tells a straightforward story has always appealed to Beam, as opposed to minimalist or cryptic contemporary styles.

"I think that has a lot to do with why I've had the amount of success that I've had, because I try to make art that I like, and I like my art a little more accessible and communicative," he says. "I guess I have the kind of taste that a lot of other people have."

In the half-dozen years since Beam plunged into sculpture full-time, his name has popped up in such publications as Better Homes & Gardens and The New York Times.

His pieces are part of the corporate collections of Universal Studios, Turner Broadcasting Co., NBC and chef Wolfgang Puck's Spago restaurant. Private collectors include Sally Kellerman, Robin Leach, Frank Zappa, Mark Gastino and Peter Gabriel.

Most recently, the Japanese have discovered Beam. A large retailer, Takashimiya, has commissioned a number of outrageous sculptures, including rhinoceroses floating on inner tubes in a pool, cows riding horses and pigs roller-skating. The company uses photographs of them on giant subway billboards.

Animals mimic humans

Beam's latest pieces on display in Scottsdale include the improbable "Moo Brew," a huge Holstein cow lounging on its back in a flimsy plastic lawn chair. Clutched in one hoof is a bottle of brew.

"Cows were like the biggest dopiest animal I could find," Beam says. "They look like they know things they're just not saying. Dogs - it's the same principle - if dogs could talk, the things they would say. That's the premise of a lot of my pieces, to take animals, and put them in the human condition and situations."

His own pets are two cats, the well-mannered Jeannette and the mischievous Shecky (named after Shecky Greene because of a story Beam heard about the comedian driving his Cadillac into a fountain at Caesars Palace).

Also on view in Scottsdale is the "Mongrel Lisa," a three-dimensional wall piece featuring a black-and-white dog with an enigmatic smile. It wears a blue gown and has its paws folded demurely. The frame around the picture is heavy, gold and ornate - and composed of doggie faces and Milk Bones.

"Dog Exec" features a floppy-eared dog in a blue business suit with a red Milk Bone bow tie and a black briefcase.

"Man and Horse" makes use of a theatrical stage "horse" that has a hole in the body so a person can step into it and appear to be on horseback.

"Zulu Business Clown" is a blue-faced, frizzy orange-haired clown with a bone through his nose in a blue business suit and a purple Milk Bone bow tie.

Ping-Pong trademark

All of the characters have wide, surprised, yellow eyes made of Ping-Pong balls - a Beam trademark.

Despite their imposing size, the sculptures are quite light. Beam makes them from a plumbing-pipe armature covered with foam. He applies papier-mâché and fiberglass, and paints them with bright acrylics.

Sometimes he incorporates found objects, such as telephone wire, chicken bones or silverware.

Lines of fiberglass cloth often remain visible on the surface of the pieces, revealing the hand of the creator. It is deliberate.

"I don't intend to make things that look slick or manufactured."

How does Beam hope people will react to his work?

"I want them to be surprised, and I want them to perhaps take a different perspective on art," he says. "Maybe it doesn't have to be incredibly serious or introspective or dark and moody to be good or effective as communication."