“Sweet Nothing” at S|2 London, Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Gallery, is an exhibition of new work by British artist CHARMING BAKER who combines the traditions of British painting with a contemporary dynamism and raw physicality.The exhibition of 20 new paintings and large-scale drawings marks Baker’s eagerly awaited return to London following his critically acclaimed show “Lie Down I Think I Love You” at Milk Studios in Los Angeles in 2013.The critic Edward Lucie-Smith has described Baker’s paintings as having, “something more, a kind of romantic melancholy that is very British. And sometimes the melancholy turns out to have sharp claws. The pictures make you sit up and examine your conscience.”Known for intentionally but purposefully damaging his works by drilling, cutting, and even shooting them with a rifle, Baker describes himself as “primarily a painter with an interest in narrative and an understanding of the tradition of painting.”Although he lives and works in London, Baker’s practice remains firmly rooted in a romantic vision of the rural Yorkshire of his childhood, which he uses as the catalyst for creating images that challenge and question notions of beauty, value, and even the very meaning of life.“Nothing is only ever one thing. I don’t see why I shouldn’t bend, shape or break an image to alter its original meaning, if only to entertain” says Baker. “I like to take people along a path which leads them to a place they don’t expect to be.”The rapidly rising talent describes the main influences for the works in “Sweet Nothing” as “schrödinger’s cat, Pavlov’s dog, bitter nostalgia, sex, joy, folly, loss, Don Quixote, tended gardens, gypsum foundations, concrete ideals, loose morals, nature, nurture, sweet nothing...”CHARMING BAKER’s “Sweet Nothing” is at Sotheby’s S|2 London until May 27SWEET_nothing from Together We Create on Vimeo.
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