Artist Statement
Landscape is not a genre of art but a medium...a medium of exchange between the human and the natural, the self and the other...Landscape is a scene meditated by culture, it is both represented and presented space, both a signifier and a signified, both frame and what a frame contains, both a real place and its simulacrum... W.J.T. MITCHELL
My current studio projects focus on experience as a means to examine the convergence of adventure, art, and place. The drawing, print, and artist book work I create is influenced by various outdoor activities, ranging from long distance cycling trips to backcountry ski tours and extended wilderness treks. The resulting work exists as an indexical record of my travels relating to the abstract and physical facets of landscape. This practice engages the human body as a vehicle for expression, while exploring ways nature and the landscape can potentially influence me both visually and physically. Given the long history of artists who have created work about nature and the environment, part of my artistic practice is centered on finding new ways to respond to nature today.
Bio
Michael Baum is a South Dakota native, whom over the last twenty years has focused much of his time exploring the mountain ranges of California, Wyoming, Montana, Washington, and Alaska. His interactions with nature and the wilderness became the impetus for his graduate studies in fine art, which he completed at Washington State University with an emphasis in drawing and printmaking. Michael is currently an Associate Professor of Studio Art at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, South Dakota.
Michael's work has been included in numerous national and international exhibitions. His drawings have been exhibited at Site: Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY, The Tucker Cooke Gallery, UNC Asheville and featured in INDA 9, International DRAWING Annual. His work has been selected for the South Dakota Governor's Biennial Art Exhibitions. Michael is a past recipient of a career development grant from the South Dakota Arts Council, funded by The National Endowment for the Arts.
Regionally his drawing and print based work has been featured at The Plains Art Museum, the South Dakota Art Museum, the John A. Day Gallery at University of South Dakota, and The Dahl Arts Center. His work has also been accepted into multiple public collections, which include the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in Oregon, the Museum of Art/WSU in Washington, the Boise Art Museum, Idaho, and the Missoula Art Museum in Montana.
Landscape is not a genre of art but a medium...a medium of exchange between the human and the natural, the self and the other...Landscape is a scene meditated by culture, it is both represented and presented space, both a signifier and a signified, both frame and what a frame contains, both a real place and its simulacrum... W.J.T. MITCHELL
My current studio projects focus on experience as a means to examine the convergence of adventure, art, and place. The drawing, print, and artist book work I create is influenced by various outdoor activities, ranging from long distance cycling trips to backcountry ski tours and extended wilderness treks. The resulting work exists as an indexical record of my travels relating to the abstract and physical facets of landscape. This practice engages the human body as a vehicle for expression, while exploring ways nature and the landscape can potentially influence me both visually and physically. Given the long history of artists who have created work about nature and the environment, part of my artistic practice is centered on finding new ways to respond to nature today.
Bio
Michael Baum is a South Dakota native, whom over the last twenty years has focused much of his time exploring the mountain ranges of California, Wyoming, Montana, Washington, and Alaska. His interactions with nature and the wilderness became the impetus for his graduate studies in fine art, which he completed at Washington State University with an emphasis in drawing and printmaking. Michael is currently an Associate Professor of Studio Art at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, South Dakota.
Michael's work has been included in numerous national and international exhibitions. His drawings have been exhibited at Site: Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY, The Tucker Cooke Gallery, UNC Asheville and featured in INDA 9, International DRAWING Annual. His work has been selected for the South Dakota Governor's Biennial Art Exhibitions. Michael is a past recipient of a career development grant from the South Dakota Arts Council, funded by The National Endowment for the Arts.
Regionally his drawing and print based work has been featured at The Plains Art Museum, the South Dakota Art Museum, the John A. Day Gallery at University of South Dakota, and The Dahl Arts Center. His work has also been accepted into multiple public collections, which include the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in Oregon, the Museum of Art/WSU in Washington, the Boise Art Museum, Idaho, and the Missoula Art Museum in Montana.