Baker Artist Portfolios

Drawing has always been at the heart of my practice as an artist. It is the fundamental element around which everything else is based. These drawings, prints, and illustrations represent a sampling of my daily practice and show the foundation from which my design, print, and sculpture are spring-boarded. Many of these pieces are contributions to various publications in which my work has appeared in the last 3 years.

This series began after finding a box of old water damaged photos at a flea market. The images were destroyed in such a way that they took on a unique beauty. It got me thinking further about our memories and how these photos once were cherished but then someone was saddened with the discovery of their destruction.

The art of urban societies frequently show our human desire for a connection with the natural world, manifest in ancient Roman frescoes to Chinese panel paintings. I am interested in quiet, secret places in the natural world. A path through the woods. Moss hiding in the shadow of the tree. Sparkling stones in the dirt. Bright red berries beneath the leaves of a raspberry bush. I am also interested in human constructions of nature. Balconies teaming with potted plants. Gated courtyards with elaborate gardens.

The objectives for the 2012 Calendar series were to make art every day. The idea of art as a marker of time references artworks from On Kawara’s date paintings to Sally Davies’ daily photographs of a Happy Meal. The artworks are sequential and reference one another. My artworks are responses to the printed images on the calendar pages along with my personal experiences while traveling, art historical references, and playful explorations of materials. Initially I intended to work on one page every day.

Dandelions and Firecrackers, explores the symbolic and literal meanings of dandelions and firecrackers. This work involves playfulness, humor, and integration of multiple mediums. This series plays with the content of both dandelions and firecrackers switching the two elements to play with their meanings. Using mixed media collage for this series gives it a graphic quality, while the use of paint unifies and brings liveliness to the composition.

Plant-based.
A series of hand-cut collages inspired by foliage.

A collection of experimental short fiction that pairs surreal, neo-Victorian storytelling with graphic collage, Stone a Pig was written and designed by Dave K. and self-published through Banners of Death Press in May 2012.

"Dave K.’s prose is a pleasure to read. I was thrilled to settle down with this book by a natural storyteller who simply knows how to write ... the bottom line is that Dave K. knows what he’s doing."
--CL Bledsoe

DREAD MAJESTY is a series of magazine paper collages based around classic ideas of the sublime. They are attempts to confront the loss of identity in the presence of natural wonder.

STATEMENT:
The Nature of Mirror

Any Move Towards the Profane, Is a Move Towards the Sacred

In every Void there is Plenum
In every Plenum a Void.

Acts of Deconsecration are written into every Consecration

The Mundane Contains every element of the Sublime

The Abject shall be Exalted.

Collages created from papers found on travels through Mexico, remixed in Baltimore

Solitude is where I find the origin of my inspiration as I use a type of productive daydreaming to fuel my work. This series is a continuum - an ongoing narrative that came to me through the process of painting in what I can only describe as an unconscious outpouring of creative associations.