Baker Artist Portfolios

This collection of works details the action of placing dried and broken substrate into wet mixure and allowing for time to dry the pieces in place. The chunks of dried substrate have been recycled and gathered from other works. The pieces act as a placeholder for the chaos of falling matter and present a more additive quality than that of the work found in the collection First Strike. Once completely dried the works are covered in a highly reflective resin or matte sealant to aide in preservation and affect the reflection of light on the surface. 

First Strike is a collection of work organized by the effect of dramatic, fast erosion onto dry substrate. These pieces are created by building up multiple layers of wet mixture and allowing them to dry over time. After weeks of drying the works are subjected to an array of different methods of tooling which causes the brittle surfaces to quickly degenerate. The surfaces are already marred with the effects of the evacuation of water that is inevitable in the drying process and resemble the natural topography of our planet.

Virtual Reality as we know it today finds its roots in panoramas.  Take for instance Robert Barker’s landscape of Edinburg, a 21 meter-long 180 degree panorama that installed the observer in the picture. Two components of Barker’s panoramas that spurred the development of immersive experiences were scale and illusion. Technological advancements during the twentieth century relegated a larger toolset for artists and lent to a more palpable experience for the observer.

This gives a basic overview of my style.  I try to marry bold colors, landscapes, architecture, surrealism, and whimsy to create a different way of looking at the world around us.  There is a shallow depth of field that is deliberate to create bold colorful images.

The principal catalyst for the emergence of DeVane’s spirit sculptures was a gift she received of an ornate Haitian bottle from a fellow artist, William Rhodes. Artists throughout the African diaspora of the Americas have been actively exploring how to reclaim the aesthetic agency of their traditional African heritages in the aftermath of the horrors of the Middle Passage, slavery in the Americas, and the relentless assaults of racism into present time.

I create portraiture of immigrants, people of color, boxers, and members of the LGBT+ community.

I omit parts.  I'm interested in power poses.

In looking back at my artist talk at the Center for Art, Design & Visual Culture at UMBC, I am conflicted by it because it righteously mythologies what it means to loiter without recognizing visceral trauma, bodily danger, and the real unsettling nature of constantly engaging with police bodies, while conversely, underserves the trauma that is contained within the bodies of policemen.