new alt_space exhibition in January December 14 2023
NEVER ODD OR EVEN
An Exhibition of Paintings by Carrie Ann Baade
On Exhibit: January 6 - February 9, 2024
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 6, 4-7 PM
Artist Talk: Friday, February 9, 11 AM
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Image: Carrie Ann Baade, Conscious and Unconscious, oil on panel, 20 x 24 inches, framed
About the Exhibition:
Carrie Ann Baade is a contemporary painter whose work quotes from, interacts with, and deeply relates to art history. For her upcoming alt_space exhibition at Arts on Douglas, she presents Never Odd or Even. This title references a famous palindrome that calls to mind an imaginary, nonexistent number that is neither odd nor even. She elaborates, “This number is something that is neither original nor ordinary. A state inherent to human consciousness in constant search for balance between individuality and a sense of belonging.”
This exhibition brings together 10 oil paintings that evoke Renaissance and Baroque references and iconography. Full of luminescent color and detail, Baade masterfully unlocks stories from her subconscious to unveil psychological revelations in stimulating and provocative combinations that are both feminist and autobiographical.
Through this body of work, Baade depicts the world realistically, and then subverts and distorts it to construct a strong sense of narrative and meaning. These layered narratives resemble fantastical parables, with compositions that interlace a strange, unexpected beauty with the uncanny, the disregarded, and the unconventional. Baade’s paintings reject a rational vision of life in favor of one that asserts the value of the subconscious, weaving narratives on mortality, sexuality, personal transformation, and the darker side of human nature.
About the Artist:
Born in 1974 in Louisiana, Baade received her MFA from the University of Delaware in 2003 and her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1997. She studied at the Florence Academy of Art in Italy from 1995-96. Her awards include the Delaware Division of the Arts Fellowship for Established Artist in Painting (2005–2006), a nomination for the United States Art Award (2007), the Florida State Division of Cultural Affairs Individual Artist Fellowship (2009–2010) and a nomination for the Joan Mitchell Fellowship (2012 and 2022). Over the past 25 years, she has shown in over 200 exhibitions and 25 solo exhibitions. In addition, her work has been shown at: the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Mesa Contemporary Museum of Art, the Pensacola Art Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Jacksonville, the Delaware Contemporary, Billy Shire Fine Arts, and La Luz de Jesus in Los Angeles, the Harwood Museum in Taos, the Warsaw Cultural Center, the Instituto de America de Santa Fe in Granada, Spain; and the Ningbo Art Museum in China. Raised on the front range in Colorado, she lives and works in Northern Florida, where she is a Professor of Painting and Drawing at Florida State University.