Issue 21 July 9, 2011 Abstract Expressionism: Kristin Baker (1975 - ) Kristin Baker is a painter based in New York.

She often uses stencil and sign painting techniques on PVC panels. Baker holds a BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts / Tufts University, Boston (1998), and graduated from Yales MA Painting Programme (2002). Her work has been exhibited in many prominent international galleries and museums, including the Whitney Museum of American Art and PS1 Contemporary Art Centre in New York, the Pompidou Centre in Paris, The Royal Academy in London and The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Her work is featured in the Saatchi Collection, and she is represented by Deitch Projects, New York. Baker first came to attention in 2003 2004 with large-scale paintings that appeared to revel in the spectacle of auto racing, capturing the visceral rush and excitement of the sport, as well as a sense of imminent disaster, dramatic accidents, and the spectacle of destruction. Baker's father was an amateur driver, and this imagery comes directly from her own observation and memories. Passage at Section K-P (2004), at fifteen feet across, offers a cinematic view of a racetrack, the grandstand, and what must be the billowing clouds of smoke from a crash:

Kurotoplac Curve (2004), freestanding with a width of sixteen feet and presented on an armature that mimics the stands, in its curving sculptural form calls to mind the banked turn of the track itself:

Baker's industrial supports (Mylar sheets, PVC), along with the glossy opacity of her palette (vibrant plastic polymers), suggest as well the synthetic colors of auto bodies, which in her work are seen as bodies in motion, collision, and obliteration. In these paintings the thrill and sense of violence in racing parallel the velocity and chaos of action painting. Her shards of paint, applied with knives and squeegees never brushes lend a sculpted/collaged facture to the surface, further heightening the feeling that what we are left with is the body of a shattered, splintered vehicle. Here as well we see the evidence of how Baker draws the shapes in her paintings, with tape intuitively applied and later quickly torn from the surface. It's also worth noting that in addition to racing cars, the artist's father served as a volunteer firefighter, and Baker recalls the fear and dread that were never far from her mind during her childhood, whether at a race or on an average day. She would sometimes go to the scene of a fire, and watch as the company fought the

blaze. Early experiences with the fleeting nature of life, with mortality, would later surface in her paintings, possibly as a means with which to grasp, render, and reconcile what is otherwise incomprehensible, even long after the fact. Featured Artist: Mike Tomlin (1966 - ) Mike Tomlin was born in Camden, NJ, his hometown is San Diego, CA, and he currently resides in Raleigh, NC. He is a self-taught artist, working mostly in acrylics but has also worked with oils and encaustics. He is also self-taught in photography, digital art, and web site design.

During the process of applying layers of paint, he often breaks down the paint through scarring. This is done with sharp objects and denatured alcohol. Eventually, through a creative/destructive process, the painting achieves a completion point.

Tomlin's paintings are multi-layered and exhibit a great degree of depth and texture. What Ive Been Up to Lately: I haven't had the urge to paint for a while. I am not sure if it's because I have been obsessed with photography (I tend to obsess on one thing at a time) or just because I've been out of the groove. I have tried to make myself go out and paint, but the result was not satisfactory. So, yesterday I happened to be in the garage doing something else and decided to pick up the paint brush. I did three small paintings and then did three more

Forward No.3 - acrylic & gel, 36 x 36 As for his process, the application of paint comes from typical utensils to virtually any hardware he can get his hands on - sometimes he just uses his hands. Other times paint is poured or thrown. Basically, there are no rules or limits in how the paint reaches the canvas.

later under similar circumstances. Here they are:

Regal, 10 x 10, acyrlic on canvas

Circus, 8 x 10, acrylic on canvas

Strike, 9 x 12, acrylic on canvas

Lilies, 10 x 10, acrylic on canvas

Throne, 10 x 10, acrylic on canvas I did these small paintings to be hung in a small gallery called Studio B in Myrtle Beach, SC. That's all the wall space I have for now, or I would do more. My next project is to do two large paintings as a dyptych for a friend. She likes greens and blues. Luckily I do pretty well with those colors and have several difference options for each hue. cjh.