Details:

This drawing depicts female figures floating in the air around a pool where a deep blue figure bathes. The artist's works explore an in-between existence, one that hovers halfway between a physical and spiritual women-centered world.
Unframed
Signed

① Artwork:

Memories and a Small Body of Water

This drawing depicts female figures floating in the air around a pool where a deep blue figure bathes; the pool is upheld by animated forms. The artist's works explore an in-between existence, one that hovers halfway between a physical and spiritual women-centered world. The fluid and feminine forms that adapt and plant themselves firmly in this composition are representatives of a restorative environment that exists after conflict—one that is ripe for new growth and possibility.

A draftswoman, printmaker and painter, Lydia Baker creates utopian and matriarchal worlds that redefine modern perceptions of joy, acceptance and home. These imagined feminine environments feature landscapes that echo the interiors of bodies as well as figures that explore and adapt themselves to their world. The artist works intuitively, without a fully planned composition, allowing both the artist and the viewer to “[savor] the landscape and the pendulum between curiosity and stability.”

Specs:

14 inches
18 inches

③ Artist:

Lydia Baker

Lydia Baker’s work creates utopian and matriarchal worlds where landscapes echo the interiors of bodies and figures adaptively root themselves. Encompassing drawing, printmaking and painting, the artist’s practice focuses on constructive escapism—exploring and redefining modern perceptions of joy, acceptance and home. Baker’s intuitive works are made without a fully planned composition, encouraging viewers to ground themselves in discovery and find sanctuary in the unknown.

BIO:

Lydia Baker was born in Richmond, Virginia in 1990. The artist received a BFA in Communication Arts & Design from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia in 2013 and an MFA in Painting from the New York Academy of Arts in New York City in 2020.

Exhibitions of Baker’s work have taken place at Art Basel Miami with Chubb Insurance in Miami, Florida (2021); Art Miami with NYAA in Miami, Florida (2021); Sugarlift Gallery in New York City (2021); and Fortnight Institute in New York City (2022); among others. 

Baker has participated in numerous artist residencies, including: the Women’s Artist Residency for Transcendental Awareness in Seneca Forest, West Virginia (2013); The Artist Teaching Residency at The Grier School in Tyrone, Pennsylvania (2019); the High Line Nine x Sugarlift Artist Residency in New York City (2021); and the Saltonstall Foundation Residency Program in Ithaca, New York (2021).

Baker’s work has been featured in several print and online publications, including: Juxtapoz Magazine, Artsy.com, Art Maze Magazine, New American Paintings and Artsin Square

Baker was awarded the New York Academy of Art Merit Scholar Award (2018/19), the IEA Art Heals Grant (2020), the New York Foundation for the Arts City Artist Corps Grant (2021) and, in her final year at NYAA, the Post-Graduate Chubb Fellowship (2020/21).

Baker lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Lydia Baker:
Memories and a Small Body of Water, 2022
Colored pencil and wax pastel on paper
18.0 × 14.0 inches /
Lydia Baker:
Memories and a Small Body of Water, 2022
Colored pencil and wax pastel on paper
18.0 × 14.0 inches /