MARTHA REA BAKER | BRET PRICE
Fri, Jul 21, 2017 5:00pm Thu, Aug 3, 2017 5:00pm
Shapes and Surfaces
Martha Rea Baker and Bret Price

SANTA FE, NM. Owen Contemporary is delighted to announce Shapes and Surfaces, a duet exhibition featuring new works by New Mexico abstract painter Martha Rea Baker and California sculptor Bret Price.

The surface is the viewer’s introduction to each painting created by Martha Rea Baker. The texture, color, shapes, and value all may spark an idea, convey a message or evoke an emotion. However, the surface also begs the question, “What lies below?” In each painting a history is built through multiple layers of paint application, mark making and drawing, removal and veiling of information. It is the artist’s intent that the surface of the painting will draw the viewer in to discover that the work is more than skin deep.

Baker’s new body of work continues to be land-based, inspired by the textures, colors and light of the Southwest landscape–ancient landforms affected by the passage of time —- natural weathering and human intervention.

Born in Corsicana, Texas and raised in Clinton, Mississippi, Baker attended the University of Mississippi and received her BA from University of California, Santa Barbara. She continued her art studies at the University of Dallas and Collin College in Texas as well as European studies. Since 2006 Baker has resided in Santa Fe where she has become a well-established abstract artist.