ANTHONY BAUS
(b. 1981)

Initiation

2018

Brown ink pen, blue wash, white charcoal on toned paper
8 1⁄2 x 11 1⁄2 inches

Anthony Baus is an alumnus and faculty member of the Grand Central Atelier in Long Island City, New York. His unique artistic vision, which mines the world of antiquity as source material for contemporary issues, is expressed through an astonishing graphic facility derived from intense study of Italian baroque drawing and painting.

His references from the ancient world are never literal; rather they are romantic, meditative, and original. His impressive technique does not reflect the mind of a copyist. The Old Master-style that style Baus has embraced is his preferred language of expression, but his content is entirely personal. Baus has described it as “romantically inspired narratives created on scaffolding of ancient architecture, richly imbued with symbolism and mystery.”

The present drawing is one of a series of works that began as a meditation on time. Months spent in Rome drew Baus into study of and contemplation on the Mithraic Mysteries, the cult religion practiced there from the 1st to the 4th centuries AD. The characters that inform Mithraism provide the starting point for Baus’s rumination on thought and the position of man in the universe, expressed through symbolism both historical and fantastical.

Baus’s works can be savored as intricate compositions of great beauty and finesse. They are also complex and sophisticated allegories on weighty themes. However appreciated or approached, they provide an introduction to a visionary artist of earnest intent and expansive imagination.