WAR IS FOR BORING OLD MEN
new work by Loring Baker
OPENING RECEPTION: OCTOBER 9. 2008 5-7PM in the lockett gallery of the art center of corpus christi

SHOW WILL be on exhibit through Oct 30. 2008
free admission, closed on mondays


SITE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION MORE IMAGES ARE COMING DAILY...


Artist Statement for War Is For Boring Old Men

This body of work began with my search for a new way of seeing. I am interested both formally and conceptually in new ideas, forward thinking, and change.
I am a problem solver. When drawing I am constantly creating and solving visual problems. I deconstruct, then reconstruct form, back and forth, back and forth, until I can feel and visualize it well. Any form I find intriguing must be broken down and understood.

With this body of work I found myself fascinated with patterns of shape. I would pick out or make up a shape that a bone, or muscle may make, and then repeat it everywhere that I could. I used line, light, or any other aspect of form that I could figure the shape into, real or imagined.

By repetition of these shapes I show the viewer the trail of my eyes, as well as conceptually exclaiming the connection of all things. By doing this I have created a new way of seeing. I have created change.

The four unframed pieces in this body of work began with my childhood obsession with the texture of paper. I would always wrinkle the page that I was drawing on or reading, just a bit, just enough to make it feel better to the touch of my hands. I still have this obsession today; it just hadn’t made its way into my work until now.

With these four drawings I returned to my need for a specific texture and began again wrinkling my paper. I first cut the paper, then gave it a few giant squeezes, and then evaluated what I was left with. Once I understood the created space, I began carving the figures out of that space, treating the drawing like a sculpture, again deconstructing and reconstructing until I found forms that pleased me. This process created a physicality in the work that I really responded to. Treating the paper in this way made the pieces feel less like precious papers, and more like three-dimensional objects.

Both formally and conceptually, each piece in this new body of work strives to acknowledge the possibility, and the ultimate necessity, for a new way of seeing. This body of work is about change.

Thank you for coming. Your presence is very much appreciated.


Peace.
Loring Baker