INTO THE MIRROR WITH CARRIE ANN BAADE

Allegory of Good Government

INTO THE MIRROR

The work of Carrie Ann Baade on Display at Pensacola Musem of Art

by Nicole Willis

Carrie Ann Baade is an American contemporary painter whose work will be featured at the Pensacola Museum of Art (PMA), in an exhibition entitled, Into the Mirror: Carrie Ann Baade. Baade’s work, described by her as, “surrealism that is influenced by the tradition of the Western European historical work from the 14th to 16th century,” is sure to pique any art-lover's interest.

Baade’s painting process begins on her studio walls. She covers her studio with material that inspires her collages. “My studio is a giant collage with images taped to the walls,” Baade explained. “By surrounding myself with images and fragments from paintings, I find relationships. From there, I move things with tape to make a more specific composition of forms.”

Baade’s love of historical art is demonstrated as she selects “images from the ‘bone yard’ of Western painting” to work with, in her own way. Baade says that creating the collage “can be a slow process that sometimes takes years or a lightning fast instant when two things get stuck together and make a perfect new statement that I then render in paint.” Once her collage is complete, Baade gets to work on the oil painting. Using the collage as a reference, she uses vibrant colors and unusual shapes to create surreal, almost psychedelic, scenes to draw the viewer in.

Baade’s Into the Mirror exhibit gets its title from, well, a mirror. “These started with picking up a found object, a mirror, by the side of the road,” Baade explained. “It was weather-beaten and the silver had peeled off the back in places so when you look in it, the world's appearance was altered. It became a plaything to explore. The mirror and my camera were the starting point for creating this new series. When I positioned the camera very close to the surface of

Allegory of Bad Government

the mirror, I could capture myself and my reflection—I became mirrored, a double, a kind of Rorschach.”

Baade’s PMA exhibit has a tentative opening date of March 11 (considering health and safety concerns amid the pandemic) and will run through May 29. An artist's talk during the run of the show will be announced. Baade was offered her solo exhibition at the PMA after winning the PMA’s 2021 Members Show. The Members Show has been an annual tradition at the Pensacola Museum of Art since its founding in 1954. The Members Show invites artists to become members of the PMA and submit their artwork for review. Baade spoke about her involvement in the Members Show, “I am a professor of Painting at Florida State University which is just down the road to the east [of Pensacola]. Last year, there were few shows to apply to and I had the pleasure of being chosen for the Members Show.”

Born in Louisiana in 1974, Baade went on to travel the world to pursue her passion for art. Baade received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, studying for a year at the Florence Academy of Art in Italy. She then went on to receive her Master of Fine Arts in painting at the University of Delaware. Since 2005, Baade has had more than 20 solo exhibitions, both nationally and internationally. Her work has been featured in exhibitions in the United States, China, Spain and more.

For more information on Baade’s show at the Pensacola Museum of Art, visit pensacolamuseum. org. To stay updated on events happening at the Pensacola Museum of Art, follow @pensacolamuseum on Facebook and Instagram. Learn more about Carrie Ann Baade at carrieannbaade.com. Caritas

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