Kim Baker bases her work on nature and nature morte as a motif. She combines this with abstract expressionism and the materiality of paint. She uses the motifs of flora, forests and fauna whilst retaining a gestural and layering technique. Kim often paints over an existing painting which can give the works a sense of history and depth.

Influences include Dutch 17th Century floral still life’s, the baroque painting of Murillo, the chiaroscuro of Caravaggio and American abstract expressionism of the 1950’s especially De Kooning.

“Kim Baker’s striking oil paintings take inspiration from the memento mori tradition as it evolved in seventeenth century Dutch still life’s. Her canvases thus feature flowers, birds and insects, the traditional motifs of these earlier works, while retaining a spontaneous technique characteristic of more recent times. Baker often reworks her canvases repeatedly, painting one image on top of another until the finished work tells an additional story; that of its own genesis.”

Nature Morte. Contemporary artists reinvigorate the Still Life tradition.
Michael Petry
Thames and Hudson.