Monochrome Meditations
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Blake Baxter is best known for reductive monochromatic paintings incorporating aggregates such as sand and cement. His work is optical- focusing on light and space as a way to affect the gaze of the viewer. Often working with black acrylic washes and many dense layers of sand, he creates a reflection and movement that changes under different lighting conditions. This quality makes this work ever changing with direct viewing imperative. Even though the medium is static and minimalist, the darkest areas still glimmer.
“My pieces are constructed with minimal materials. I follow repeatable processes of sequenced steps that yield variation despite my efforts to minimize the same. The result is a loosely structured communication, which, when met by perception, seeks to establish form. One might see a single piece recreated over and over, or individual pieces grouped by common values, or wholly unique objects defined by their relative distances from each other in time and space. As such, these are exercises in the interpretative power of consciousness, providing viewers a pathway towards separation from the mundane through a mediated process of observation.” Baxter was born in Los Angeles and attended UCLA School of Arts and Architecture before completing his BA in Fine Art at UC Santa Cruz. He has exhibited in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Oakland, Seattle, Buffalo, and Palm Springs; and was an exhibiting member of the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition. His work has been featured on EMS ArtScene; in Palm Springs Life and ART Patron magazines; and is in the permanent collection at the Palm Springs Art Museum, as well as numerous, notable private collections. He lives and works today in Joshua Tree, CA.
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