Jimmy Baker: Remote Viewing

Season: 
2010-2011

February 26 - April 10, 2011

This exhibition is the first solo museum show for Cincinnati-based artist Jimmy Baker. His work merges traditional painting techniques with digital printing, combining landscapes with deconstructed images of human figures and forms. He manipulates found images from online sources, combining the unassuming—celebrities snapped by paparazzi and anonymous pictures of everyday life—with the horrifying—dismembered bodies and explosions photographed by soldiers. The result is a disorienting and confusing composite image. Baker translates this onto canvas through a combination of digital printing and painting techniques. The seamless nature of the digital printing over the painted canvas helps to weave the two processes together, blurring the line between the different media. Through this mash-up, Baker searches for a new chapter in the history of painting. And by interweaving numerous unrelated sources into one composition, he addresses the role context plays in our understanding of images in the all-access world of the 21st century.

Image: Pareidolia, 2011 (detail). Photo by Tony Walsh.

A big thank you to the sponsors who make this exhibition possible: Legg Mason Investment Counsel and ArtsWave Corporate Partner: Convergys

Curious about the artist's process?

Take a behind-the-scenes look at the exhibition! Listen as Baker explains his unique approach and watch how his show came together at the CAC.
See more behind-the-scenes videos here, or visit the multimedia area of our 'Learn' section to access everything from podcasts to videos to slidecasts.