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.”

Baus has had an interest in reimaging views of American cities and the urban figures we encounter within them. Often the cast of characters are dressed in a mix of contemporary and historical styles. In his pen and ink drawing, the artist has taken as his subject a skateboarder who bends over to look at his reflection in a mirror set within an intricately carved oval frame. His horizontal visage peers out, looking directly at the viewer. In the related painting, Baus has masterfully painted the drawing in perspective, presenting us with a view of the drawing as it is envisioned as a rumpled piece of paper, with the edges 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.