Description
‘Head, 2020’ by Aaron Robert Baker
Artist: Aaron Robert Baker
Title: ‘Head, 2020’
Medium: Archival ballpoint pen and Prismacolor pencil on paper
Dimensions: 13″ x 11″
Framing: Framed (frame size: 14″ x 13″)
Year of Creation: 2021
About the Artwork:
“This work is the very first in my Heads series. It is definitely the most monster-like of all the works and one of just a handful that has ‘limbs’ and realistic hair. It is also an unusual shape, since now they all share the same egg-like outline, which I alternate so that the wide part is on the top for one drawing and then on the bottom for the next one. That said, this work shares a lot with the later ones, especially a preoccupation with tragedy, comedy, beauty and ugliness. It also marks the reemergence of the ballpoint pen in my drawing, which is a big part of my work now.” – Aaron Robert Baker
About the Artist:
(Artist Bio)
Aaron Robert Baker was born in the Allegheny Mountains of western Pennsylvania in 1972. The youngest in a tribe of restless people, he wandered through Michigan, Ohio, Nevada and numerous Texas towns before settling in Chicago, IL, with his wife and son.
He received his BFA from The University of North Texas and his MFA from The University of Nevada Las Vegas, where he studied under influential art critic Dave Hickey. When he was in the second grade, his teacher told his parents that he had drawn a cheeseburger really well and they should enroll him in art classes. He has been an artist ever since.
(Artist Statement)
Baker’s work explores the fine line between the beautiful and the grotesque. Interested in finding artifice in nature, he creates organic forms with obsessive patterns and mark-making, hard-edged shapes and synthetic colors. He loves the performative side of art and sees his works as hopeful, little creatures that are full of dreams and are looking for their chance to shine.
His process involves a combination of systems and chance. Typically working in the same size and format and with a limited visual vocabulary, he layers circles, lines, drips and dots until something unexpected and interesting emerges.