THIS SPACE MAY BE MONITORED FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE
Christen Baker, MFA 2023, Glass
My work grasps for an indescribable feeling, a space where intuition and observations collide to critically assess how attention and desire become an economy. This economy takes form in various ways, including news media conflating information to increase viewer engagement, through the fear of missing out on the next new branded product, or personalized ads through the exchange of our data that appear on social media. In response to this economy, I extract information and graphics from public spaces, layer and over-process digital records of surfaces and objects, examine aesthetics and structural elements of built environments in an attempt to build a new visual lexicon that speaks to these real and imagined spaces. I utilize material suggestion such as glass and light because they have qualities of necessity, utility, optics and opulence that seep deeply into our desires. I create works in photography and 3d scanning to capture individual objects and textures from my environment that then become the surfaces on my sculptures or spaces. Images of pavement, detritus, and signage, ground the works in a specific place and real time. Resulting in works, installations, environments that have distortions that are perpetually indirect, quiet, and subversive. Hiding in plain sight.
Installation view. Glass, neon, wood, inkjet print, reflective vinyl, Phototex. Image credit: Neighboring States.
Installation view. Glass, neon, wood, inkjet print, reflective vinyl, Phototex. Image credit: Neighboring States.
"You Are Being Recorded and Contradictions of Active Fervor." 2023. Glass, noble gas, wood, inkjet print, security television, mirrored glass, webcam, inkjet on polystyrene. Image credit: Neighboring States.
"Shiny Thing, Good." 2021 - 2023. Inkjet print, reflective vinyl, bulldog clips, zip ties, lag screws, drywall anchor. Image credit: Neighboring States.
"New! And Impervious to Natural Elements" 2023. glass, cement blocks, hand painted sign, osb plywood, rope, tape. Image credit: Neighboring States.
"Contradictions of Active Fervor". 2023. glass, noble gas,wood, inkjet print, vinyl, sand bags, casters. Image credit: Neighboring States.
"Contradictions of Active Fervor". 2023. glass, noble gas,wood, inkjet print, vinyl, sand bags, casters. Image credit: Neighboring States.
"New! And Impervious to Natural Elements" 2023. glass, cement blocks, hand painted sign, osb plywood, rope, tape. Image credit: Neighboring States.
Christen Baker
Website: christenbakr.com
Instagram: @christenbaker_
Christen Baker is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the complex relationship between attention, desire, and the economy that emerges from it. Baker earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics from the Kansas City Art Institute and a Master of Fine Arts from Tyler School of Art and Architecture, where she was awarded the Assistantship for Tyler Information Technology and Digital Services. Baker’s interest in exploring the intersection of technology, new media, and visual art has led her to work in a variety of mediums, including glass, neon, sculpture, photography, and 3D scanning. She has utilized these mediums to create a new visual lexicon that speaks to the subtle and often indirect ways in which attention and desire shape our perception of the world around us. Baker was a lecturer in Ceramics and Kiln-Formed Glass at Kansas City Institute and has completed residencies at Belger Arts in Kansas City, MO, and the International Ceramics Studio in Kecskemet, Hungary. Most recently, Christen curated an exhibition titled NO SIGNAL at Stella Elkins Tyler Gallery in Philadelphia, PA, where she showcased her work and the work of other artists who explore similar themes. In recognition of her work as an MFA student at Tyler, she was awarded the Leroy Nieman Fellowship in Glass at Ox-Bow School of Art. She currently lives and works in Philadelphia, PA, where she continues to explore the geographies of public spaces and objects, real and imagined.