The next Artist You Need To Know is Vanessa Baird.
Baird is a Norwegian artist who works mostly in drawing but also has mounted large scale installations of her works. She has carved out a space for herself as one of Norway’s foremost visual artists since the 1990s with artworks that have a quality that is reminiscent of her countryman Edward Munch as well as previously featured Artist You Need To Know Léon Spilliaert, as all three artists mined their immediate experience for their expressive images.
From MunchMuseet : “Over the past two decades Baird has often created her art at the ‘kitchen table’, surrounded by the chaos of everyday life amid children and an aging mother, but always with a sidelong glance at the world outside.”
Baird’s artwork is an example of who the personal is often political, in her use of imagery and themes that speak to everyday life but resonate beyond that immediate sphere.
Baird was born in 1963 : her parents were Norwegian and Scottish and these dual heritages were both influential to Baird’s upbring. As a child, she spent a significant amount of time in hospital, which helped to foster her interest in drawing.
She attended the Norwegian School of Arts and Crafts (1982 – 85), the Royal College of Art in London (MA, 1985 – 1987) and the Norwegian Academy of Fine Arts (1988 – 1991).
Baird’s artwork can be found in the collections of the British Museum’s Prints and Drawing Collection but also in a number of important Norwegian collections, such as The National Museum of Norway, Stavanger Kunstmuseum and KODE. She has also produced several permanent public artworks, that have been commissioned by groups such as Government Building 6 (R6) in Oslo where Baird has three large murals. Baird has been recognized with several awards as well, such as the Neshornet, Klassekampens Cultural award (2013) and the Lorck Schives Art Prize at the Trondheim Art Museum (2015) . She was commissioned to create the Nobel Peace Prize Diploma in 2018, which was a very political statement considering how her more political works are often unsettling and unflinching in responding to world events.
The images below are from the exhibition You Are Something Else at Kunstnernes Hus in 2017.
From here : “Vanessa Baird’s work is story telling of a kind that is both potently provocative and emphatically individual. Her charged creations, made in pastel and watercolour, range from room-size murals to intimate self-portraits and draw on a wide range of references from her own lived experiences, as well as from Scandinavian folklore and literature.”
Baird has also been central to – as a ‘character’ based upon her friendship with the artist – Mette K. Hellenes’ comic strip Kebbelife which has been described as a satirical free-form narrative. You can see some of these artworks here.
“I don’t think art can rescue anything but it is to keep ourselves going and to give us hope that the future can be different.”
Baird has often spoken of being in the same place geographically for most of her life (hence the comparisons to Léon Spilliaert, who also transformed the local into paintings and drawings that have a wider resonance to viewers). Her words : “My life has been claustrophobic throughout. I’m used to being lonely, both due to illness and as an artist. But you keep yourself occupied. I put all my focus and energy into my drawing. I don’t have energy for anything else. There’s a lot of tension, nerves, anger and frustration. Doing them gives you time off from yourself.”
Baird lives and works in Oslo. A more detailed listing of her exhibitions and accomplishments can be seen here.
More of her work can be seen here and an interview with Baird can be enjoyed here.