Lee Baker

Spectra 1 Installation

Lee — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:38:03 +0000

Spectra 1 presented by Future Tense had its private view last week and all the hard work was worth it. I’m proud to be presenting my work with a fantastic group of artists including Jen Stark, who’s incredible multifaceted paper art I have admired for some time, the show was received with an overwhelming positivity. Featuring paintings, sculpture, video and installation, the exhibition is on until Dec 18th at LondoNewcastle Gallery, 28 Redchurch Street and is well worth a visit. Here are some images of my installation piece called Refractive Monolith which used about ten thousand metres of acrylic yarn.

MTV Redefine Exhibition

Lee — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 10:19:20 +0000

I finished my painting and sent it off to The Goss Michael Foundation in Dallas for the MTV Redefine exhibition and auction set up to raise money for Staying Alive, a charity dedicated to helping and educating people about HIV. Here are some photos of the show. I was proud to see my work in a room with some seriously prestigious artists. The show raised $800 k.

Lee Baker and Ben Eine

Faile, Dalek and Shepard Fairey

Damien Hirst

Hiroshi

Katrin Fridriks

A Cloud Envelopes Neo-Tokyo

Lee — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 22:48:29 +0000

making this painting has been a cerebral rollercoaster . Basically what you see here is the painting before I went in and changed it again. I drew in black lines around all the buildings and background and I came in the next day and hated it. So, its taken about 10 days to rectify it all. Also, I’m feeling as though the cloud should be somehow enveloping the buildings, like some huge character from a Japanese monster movie.

Charles Sheeler

Lee — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 18:10:55 +0000

There’s something mystical in the starkness of Charles Sheeler’s landscape paintings. They should be sad and lonely and that isnt the case at all. I feel an incredible sense of calm when looking at his work. An American artist and founder of American Modernism, his paintings make Edward Hopper’s work look positively busy. Sheeler is definitely having an influence on me. I can feel that I want to make a series of paintings about nature versus man.

I also found this amazing painting at the Manchester Museum of Modern Art. Its by CRW Nevinson. While sensitively depicting a dramatic moment in Wartime history he has managed to deconstruct the scene into simple shapes and tones, retaining an overwhelming sense of scale on a small canvas.

My new painting

Lee — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 19:51:38 +0000

Its coming along. But its completely changed. At first, a Geisha was going to be in the foreground amongst flower and insects. But now I have an idea to create a series of threatening landscapes. Nature versus any kind of synthetic construct. Anyway, you’ll see what I mean as the painting progresses. Beneath the cloud with sit a city scape, loosely based on a view of Shinjuku in Tokyo.

kazumasa nagai

Lee — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 19:34:32 +0000

I’ve been thinking a lot more lately about abstract shape and its ability to evoke emotion. I got an idea of what it felt like as I started to paint the Geisha’s hair and began to see all kinds of shapes within. The possibilities were suddenly endless, where as the possibilities for the figurative suddenly seemed limited. Anyway, I’ve been getting into Kazumasa Nagai’s work. Stunning.

Ive started a new painting

Lee — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 10:44:17 +0000

So, After a wee while of procrastination, I’ve finally worked out the idea for my next painting. Its on the subject of sexual awakings. When its finished a semi-nude Geisha lies in the foreground surrounded by plants, flowers, humming birds and insects. She is sleep dreaming of something which is making her smile. Her hair is transformed into the sea and in her hair lies a sleeping wolf cub and a snake. On her breast lies a tiger cub. Behind her a vast daunting cumulus cloud rises up backed by a multicoloured sunset.

As you can see its seriously early days and right now I’m enjoying the more abstract colour choices of the stripes in the sky. It feels like a Bridgit Riley Painting. Anyway, I’ve decided to post up its progress.

Beautiful Japanese nude 2

Lee — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 06:55:19 +0000

Baby Blue Anime

Lee — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 19:16:19 +0000

Images from Baby Blue, an animation directed by Shinichiro Watanabe as part of an anthology of short animated films from Studio 4°C called Genius Party. 2007

Tekkon Kinkreet

Lee — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 13:29:22 +0000

The magnificent Tekkon Kinkreet which was a true labour of love for American director Michael Arias and the team at Studio 4*C.