Baker Artist Portfolios

From my earliest days as an artist the figure has been a source of inspiration and interest. Although I don't think of myself as a figurative  artist, working with the figure  both through observation and invention  have influenced  my work compositionally and with respect to the language of form that proliferates through it. 

I've always loved birds. No matter what happens in the world, I continue to find solace in their presence.  I watch for them, listen to their conversations and trust that nests will continue to be made, baby birds will be born, and one day leave those nests.  Birds continue to find a place in my paintings.
 

After my father died, my mother handed me a stack of his funeral cards and said, "Why don't you make something from these?"  The cards honor his name (Gino Pierleoni, so close to mine), birth/death dates and the images and religious practice that was important to him.  I wondered whether there would be a point during the alteration process when these religious figures might no longer be considered sacred. As the images transformed from Jesus, Mary and the Saints to become regular people, the images remained sacred.

This series produced in January was done on a new medium for me...Bristol Board. It interacts with gouache paint, gold ink, acrylic, oil pastel, gel ink and india ink to create a rare intensity absorbing, yet reflecting true colors, energy and light. The complex simplicity of designs is indicative of my view as the advent to 2013. It's very interesting how such a simple change of use from one paper to another effects the outcome of my statements as an Abstract Expressionist of the 21st Century!