Picasso’s CMYK Period, 2018 - 2023
Aluminum printing plates, emulsion, ink, solvent
70 x 68.25 in.
“At some point, probably in the Swinging Sixties, Pablo Picasso said something along the lines of “What good are computers? They can only give you answers.” I included this quote in President: “Why?” — my 2018 limited-edition tabloid newspaper — to emphasize the questioning nature that is essential to making art. In Picasso’s CMYK Period, the influential artist's words play hide and seek on the printing plates amid primary-colored amalgams of abstract expressionist smears, pop-art Benday dots, and Fluxus happenstance, continuing my lifelong obsession with mixing visuals and text: how words appear and what they say.”
Pocket MonstersTM Strobe, 2000
Gouache on color laser copy and collage
16 3/4 x 10 7/8 in.
God, What An Ignoble End, 2000
Gouache and pencil on color laser copy and barrier tape
16 3/8 x 10 3/4 in.
Fat Men and Little Boys, 1999
Acrylic, gouache and oil on color laser copy and collage
16 1/4 x 10 3/4 in.
And Where a Flabby Devil, 2000
Gouache, oil and pencil on color laser copy and collage
16 3/8 x 10 1/4 in.
Will Teach Us All How To Play The Blues, 1999
Gouache, pencil, oil and circuit sticker on color laser copy
17 x 11 in.
R.C. BAKER
Lives and Works in New York
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
“Noise for Signal,” Baahng Gallery, NYC , 2018
“. . . and Nixon coming / The Draft,” Zone: Contemporary Art, NYC, 2009
“The Terminal Century,” The Center for Book Arts, NYC, 2002
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
“Pitches and Scripts,” Jennifer Baahng Gallery, NY, 2023
“True Grit,” Baahng Gallery, NYC, 2017
Writers collaborating on Christian Jankowski’s installation, “Review” Friedrich Petzel Gallery, NYC, 2012
“Lovely Days / Video Days, “President: ‘Why?,” 23rd Summer Festival, Croatia, 2012
“Disciplined Spontane,” Zone: Contemporary Art, NYC, 2010
“The Art Connection:Art for Public Spaces,” The Maryland Institute College of Art, 2004
“ExSpace Book Project,” The Knitting Factory, NYC, 2003
“Perimeters: Painting,” LICK Gallery, Long Island City, NY, 2000
SELECTED COMMISSION WORKS
Commissioned by Local 2110 to create an installation commemorating 10 years of union organizing by the United Auto Worker’s Technical, Office, and Professional branch Amalgamated Lithographer’s Building, NYC, 1994
Commissioned to create paintings and drawings for Ang Lee’s “The Wedding Banquet,” 1992, Oscar Nominee for Best Foreign Language Film in 1994
Designed title graphics for Hal Hartley’s short feature, “Theory of Achievement”, 1991
Designed title graphics for Hal Hartley’s feature film, “The Unbelievable Truth”, 1989
AWARDS
Arts Writers Grant, Creative Capital | Andy Warhol Foundation, 2016
Painting Fellowship, New York Foundation for the Arts, 1990
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
“Noise For Signal”, Pac Pobric, The Village Voice, June 13, 2018
“R.C. Baker: ” . . . and Nixon coming” | the draft”, Emily Warner, The Brooklyn Rail, April 2- May 30, 2009
“Art Critic R.C. Baker Wins Warhol Foundation Grant“, The Village Voice, December 2, 2016
“Manhattan Over Our Heads,” March 22, 2016
The Village Voice, in conjunction with “The Critics Who Contributed to Christian Jankowski’s ‘Review‘,” Blouin ArtInfo, July 5, 2012
SELECTED TEXT AND TALKS
Editor In Chief of The Village Voice, 2021–present
Visiting critic, New York University Steinhardt MFA program in Studio Art, 2011-present
Zoom presentation of Voices Beyond—a 25-minute video covering the history of The Village Voice within a general overview of postwar journalism and culture in New York City—to a class of international naval officers in residence at the Naval War College in Newport, RI., 2022
Senior Editor and Archivist at The Village Voice, 2018-2020
Delivered talk, Cold War Gray, at Bulgaria’s National Gallery of Art in Sofia. With historical context provided by such imagery as classic surrealist paintings, Soviet propaganda photographs, and 1970s album covers, I explored the complex themes and aesthetic concepts surrounding American artist Brian Dailey’s photo collages, 2014
“Moving Words” Lecture on the convergence of themes in 1960s film, including avant-garde shorts, the Zapruder home movie, the Batman TV series, and Godard’s “Sympathy for the Devil” 23rd Summer Festival, Bol, Croatia, 2012
“Illuminating the Text” Lecture on artists who use text in visual art, with a video projection of my work in progress “President: ‘Why?’ ” 2010
“Illuminating the Text” Gallery talk about works combining art and text, including my book “The Terminal Century,” in conjunction with the exhibit “Disciplined Spontaneity”
Zone: Contemporary Art, NYC, 2010
Commentator for the Ovation channel documentary “Jeff Koons: Made in Heaven”
Panelist on the National Academy Museum and School of Fine Art’s review of the Whitney Biennial National Academy Museum, NYC
Juror on panel selecting group shows proposed by emerging curators
NURTUREart, Brooklyn, New York, 2008
Panelist, “Manhattan Transfer,” exhibition discussion of artists’ working conditions and inspirations in New York City and surrounding areas, Zone Chelsea Gallery, NYC, 2006
Village Voice preview of “Come to Crumbland / R. Crumb & Robert Hughes: A Conversation” read by library president Paul LeClerc to introduce the underground cartoonist and the art critic at “Live from the NYPL” event
New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, NYC, 2005
Moderator for the panel “The Future of the Graphic Novel”
New York Is Book Country, New York University, NYC, 2004
Related
The Brooklyn Rail reviews RC Baker’s solo exhibition, “…and Nixon’s coming” the draft
