In the Studio: Mark Moore in Conversation with American Artist John Bauer
I recently visited the studio of John Bauer to take a look, first-hand, into the ideas, techniques, and concepts behind his newest body of work and discuss some of his recent and new work in progress. I think you will find the short video interview that resulted fascinating!
John Bauer’s abstract paintings feature a distinct color palette of blacks and silvers sometimes combined with other high-key colors like magenta. Within Bauer's paintings, images of abstraction are subjected to processes of abstract painting. Gestures are photographed and silk screened. Marks are duplicated in different scales within the same painting. He appropriates his own work into new compositions where imagery cancels, deletes, shifts and over-writes itself. Through a painting process that is methodical yet immediate, removed and also direct, Bauer remixes the spontaneous act and the programmed decision. His paintings thus challenge our perceptions and expectations of expressionistic painting.
John Bauer (b. 1971 San Diego, California) received a BA in Studio Art in 1993 from the University of California in Santa Barbara, California. Selected solo exhibitions include: Perry Rubenstein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2013); Patricia Low Contemporary, Geneva, Switzerland (2010); Galleri SE, Bergen, Norway (2009); Gallery Van Bau, Vestfossen, Norway (2009); Maruani & Noirhomme, Knokke, Belgium (2008); solo presentation Art Brussels with Patricia Low Contemporary,Brussels, Belgium (2008); Patricia Low Contemporary in Gstaad, Switzerland (2007); John Bauer at Bellwether Gallery in New York (2007); Free-Floating Anxiety at Bellwether Gallery in New York (2003); and New OilsatClementine Galleryin New York (1998).
Selected group exhibitions include Abstract America: New Art from the US, Saatchi Gallery, London, England (2009); New York's Finest at Canada Gallery in New York (2005); Grotto II at Jessica Murray Projects in Brooklyn (2004);and Hello Chelsea at Bellwether Gallery in New York. He is represented by Patricia Low Contemporary, Switzerland.
John Bauer lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.