Kim Bakers work takes inspiration from the memento mori tradition, using the figurative, flora, forests and fauna as the motif whilst retaining a gestural, abstract and layering technique. Baker often repeatedly paints over an existing work, creating layers, giving the work a sense of depth and history. Her work is an ongoing exploration of nature, playful gestural forms suggestive of organic landscapes, flowers and forests against muted or dark backgrounds.
Influences include Dutch 17th Century floral still life, the baroque paintings of Murillo, the chiaroscuro of Caravaggio and the landscapes of David Bomberg and Ivon Hitchens alongside 1950's American abstract expressionism of Willem De Kooning.
Kim Baker graduated with a BA Hons Fine Art degree from Birmingham University. She has exhibited widely both in the UK and internationally, including group and solo exhibitions and art fairs in London, New York, Hong kong, Australia, Newcastle and Reykjavik. In 2009 Baker completed a residency at the Signy and Olaf Willums Art Foundation in France. Private and public collectors include Birmingham University, Whitbread Group plc, Bow Arts Trust, Kim was awarded a commission for 8 paintings for the Four Seasons Hotel in St Petersburg. She has also completed a 3 large painting commission for the Gleneagles Hotel in Edinburgh based on the idea of Scottish flowers, particularly heather. Many commissions have also been completed for clients in Melbourne and Sydney Australia as well as many sales of work to private collectors in the UK, Europe, America and Australia. Her work has been featured in Art Monthly, Time Out and S Magazine and in 2013 she was featured in the Thames and Hudson book Nature Morte by Michael Petry.
