ANTHONY BAUS
(b. 1981)

Anthony Baus is an alumnus and instructor of the Grand Central Atelier in Long Island City, New York. His unique artistic vision, which mines the world of the Old Masters and 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 to historical art are never literal; rather they are 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.”

This pair of works began with a drawing that belonged to a series of works that reimagine view of American cities. Baus uses the historicizing architecture of these cities as setting for narrative scenes that play out in the foreground with a cast of characters dressed in a mix of contemporary and historical styles. The arch depicted here, prominently inscribed “Manhattan,” situates us with New York City, but without any specific architectural references. Baus’s drawing serves as the basis for the painting, which masterfully depicts the drawing in perspective. He presents us with a view of the drawing envisioned as a rumpled piece of paper, with the corners curling way and curling over. Anthony Baus has written of these works:

“The curl paper painting series was created out of a need to re-evaluate my work and to see it from a different perspective. I first make the drawing, and then the painting as a way to distance myself from the original work and look at it as an object. It also, upon later inspection, makes the original drawing an immediate antique. The painting is an homage to the work, which at the same time celebrates the tradition of drawing. The paintings make the drawings “old” by giving them a patina that can only be achieved over time, and also by displaying them in a way similar to the paper we might find scattered on a table or displayed in a letter-rack, or rack still-life, in Dutch or Italian painting. The black background of the painting is intended to give the work a contemporary feel, as if presenting the drawing in a void.”

Baus’s drawings can be savored as intricate compositions of great beauty and finesse. They are also complex and sophisticated amalgams of the modern world and ages past. However appreciated or approached, they provide an introduction to a visionary artist of earnest intent and expansive imagination.