Baker Artist Portfolios

 I recall leaning on a nightstand made by my grandfather as I got in and out of bed. This nightstand was the strongest connection to my home before I fell asleep. That tactile connection to the nightstand not only summoned memories of home but also allowed me to consider possible alternative futures. The nightstand has a sentiment of displacement; a longing for a home that no longer exists or never existed.

The Geology pieces were experiments in stained concrete and background colors.  Each was done in a set of 4 or 5 with similar proportions.  The first series called Tourmaline had more complicated layers of coloring and polyurethane, along with a gilded edge effect.  Each series got less complex, until I felt I had finished exploring the concept.     

Pieces in the "Shrine" series are some of the first and latest sculptures I have made. Works related to that series are also featured here. Several were inspired by the dream detailed below. Like the man in the dream, the mundane and broken objects of my sculptures resonate to me with importance and secret meaning. 

The Metal Shop series is the large-scale result of my obsession with rusty and abandoned objects.  All the pieces are made from items found in the alleys of my Mount Vernon neighborhood.  Each piece is assembled differently, depending on its materials and the desired composition.  My sole purpose in creating them was to showcase what I consider to be the natural palette and paintbrush of decay.

Years ago, I dreamt of a man who wandered alone through a ruined landscape. Humanity had long since been laid low by war and disease. After generations of ever-weakening survivors, he was the last man alive. Despondent and lonely, he sifted through the rubble of towns and cities, gathering fragments of metal, glass and machined lumber. Such things must have importance, he reasoned, since they endured the catastrophe. From this eccentric collection, he fashioned strange objects of worship and placed them in and around each ravaged place he visited.

Preparation for the Watermark series was begun in the fall of 2015 after I replaced burst and leaking plumbing from the kitchens and bathrooms of my family’s homes as well as my own. I left the broken valves and scraps of pipe exposed over the winter in my backyard so they might “ripen” further with more oxidation. The composition of the plumbing in each piece was purely intuitive with little or no trimming to size. The concrete was sifted to eliminate larger chunks of aggregate and wire mesh was used to reinforce it. Standard concrete stain was used to tint the red pieces.