(Los Ángeles, California, USA, 1960)
Gary Baseman is a multi-discipline artist that explores history, heritage and the human condition (especially love, longing, and loss). His unique iconography and fantastic visual narratives celebrate “the beauty of how bittersweet life can be” by combining the worlds of popular culture and fine art.
Baseman was raised in Los Angeles, CA where lifestyles shifted dramatically as politics and popular culture seeped into the home. The influence of the times and Hollywood blended with the influential art scene. This led to how the artist would perceive and produce his work. He witnessed how artists would challenge traditional practices and cross boundaries. The term “Pervasive Art” was coined to reflect his cross-pollenation of admired artists such as Walt Disney and Andy Warhol. Baseman transforms everyday observation and experience into images that include drawing, painting, photography, video, installation and performance as well as including fashion, toy design and latterly social media.
Gary was the first American-born child of four to Ben and Naomi Baseman, both Holocaust survivors originally from Eastern Poland (now Ukraine). His parents believed strongly in the American Dream and instilled democratic ideals into their son using their right to vote, unionise and advocating the issues that resonated with them. Their experience made it important that they encouraged their children to show empathy and compassion for others as well as being true to oneself. Gary graduated magna cum laude in Communications from UCLA, inspired by the First Amendment (that protects free speech, religion, press, assembly, right to petition) to develop into an effective exponent of visual problem-solving and messaging.
Baseman lived and worked in New York From 1986 to 1996 where he produced massive amounts of ads and editorial campaigns for international publications and corporate clients (The New Yorker, TIME and Rolling Stone as well as Nike, Gatorade, Levi’s, and Mercedes-Benz). He broadened his artistic practice in the late 1990s when he designed the visual identity of the popular board game CRANIUM. He also created the ABC/Disney animation series Teacher’s Pet that won several Emmy and BAFTA awards.
Character development became a major trait of his work. It includes characters such as Toby (the best friend and keeper of secrets), Dumb Luck (who holds his own lucky rabbit’s foot), ChouChou (who spirits away negative energy and hate), Ahwroo (who craves love and affection), and Blackie the Cat (who has a healing, meditative triple purr). These deceptively cute characters often inhabit otherworldly landscapes. The work is designed for viewers to reflect on the challenges and triumphs of their own lives.
Gary Baseman artworks in La Fiambrera Art Gallery
Baseman is a frequent speaker at international conferences on multi/interdisciplinary art and visual communication and he’s a recipient of the Fulbright and the Sundance New Frontier Lab fellowships. Recent projects include collaborations with COACH, Dr. Martens, and Lladro and a documentary film Mythical Creatures about his family heritage. The career retrospective, The Door is Always Open showcased in Los Angeles, Taipei, and Shanghai (2013–2015). Gary Baseman’s fine art has been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States as well as in Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.
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