Gabrielle Bakker

Born in Ann Arbor, MI, in 1958, Gabrielle Bakker attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, graduating with a BFA in 1982. She continued her study at Yale University, where she studied under William Bailey and received her MFA in 1984. Since then she has been awarded the Pollack-Krasner Foundation Grant and the Academy Award in Painting from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She has exhibited at the Laguna Museum, CA; Frye Art Museum, Seattle; Earl McGarth Gallery, NYC; Mincher/Wilcox Gallery, San Francisco; and the Dart Gallery in Chicago. Bakker’s work is in the public collections of the HBO Coporation, Chicago, the Santa Baraba University Museum, the San Jose Art Museum, and the Art Institue of Chiacgo. She currently lives and works in Seattle.

PROCESS

Bakker’s process exists out of doing extensive studies and planning. Working from real life models she creates multiple studies of her subject, then translating these into prototypes where she plays with composition and color. Bakker’s use of oil paint have a tempera quality that connect her work to Renaissance painting and the move from tempera to oil painting. She combines this with influences from cubism and Japanese art in conversation with contemporary subjects and objects to mix cultures in a new dialogue. She works diligently on creating a narrative inspired by the untold stories of mythological people and creatures, geishas, and the everyday. Driven by different styles from history her work becomes an amalgamation of past and present.

RESIDENCY

Bakker will investigate the undiscovered lives of people from mythology. She will explore multiple studies and prototypes, which she will use to create a 36x40 inch oil painting. She will use a real-life model, and create nuanced human figures in the narratives she invents.