The life of an artist is that of an impetus to humanity’s search for beauty, truth and understanding. A breed entirely apart, struggling to bring forth onto the canvas of a chosen media, feelings and emotions that a mere commoner would note only in passing. Dutch born and Antwerp based visual artist Ingrid Baars dwells upon that exacting paradigm. Not an easy task when your role models are the likes of Picasso, Man Ray and Dali.
Madonna, 2012.
A truly accomplished visual artist in the purest sense of the term,
Baars began her career as a professional photographer. Yet it quickly
dawned upon her that the dictates of commercial assignments although
lucrative, were somewhat restraining her ability to fully give way to
her creative voice. Her striking digital collages are a living testimony
to the creative boldness she sets upon herself, as she bravely
attempts to reveal the sacral sanctity of the female form.
Incredibly powerful in presence yet unwaveringly beautiful, Baar’s
artwork offers a state-of-the-art appreciation of modern surrealism. It
shatters all restrictions concurring to the symbolic nature of the
female body. Her oeuvre is unique, both for its wonderful idiosyncrasies
and its fervent poetry.
Baars’ challenge is many-fold. First, the compulsion to materialise a
vision that truly expresses her rigorous nature. Through the lance of
her camera, on the screen of her computer, she dares to confront her
trepidations. Placing them under the magnifying glass of creation, she
painstakingly conceives artworks that must above all remain significant
to the peremptory standard of her own imaginative mind. Then, once the
work has been created, begins the excruciating process of letting it out
into the world, hoping that art lovers and collectors alike will
embrace if not understand what has been achieved.
Grace 2013.
Throughout history and spanning across numerous cultures, the female
form has remained the centerfold of mankind’s imagination. It has also
been a theme of predilection for countless artists scoping from the
expressionist, avant-garde and surrealist artistic movements.
Therefore it is befitting that Baars’ artistry so vibrantly echoes
that of masters such as Braque, Picasso, Modigliani, Brancusi, Dali or
Francis Bacon. The friendly ghosts of collage pioneers such as Hannah
Höch, Kurt Schwitters or Cecil Touchon also stand close to her pulsating
heart.
Ingrid Baars, Virgin, 2013 . Courtesy of the artist.
Contemporary artists like Orlane, Cindy Sherman or Vanessa Beecroft
have greatly contributed to instate the concept of body modification as a
form of self empowerment for women; often using their own flesh as a
performing canvas in order to exhort the notion of beauty to its
absolute paroxysm. Yet Baars’ “à-propos” somewhat differs from her
peers. Through her intricate digital collages, she unearths a newfound
iconography of the female form. One that is truly remarkable not only in
its conceptual use of cutting-edge technology, but also in the sense
that its intrinsic aesthetic value could not be any farther than any
derivative work. Indeed, Baars single-handedly shoots, designs and
creates every element comprised in her final artwork.
In her previous series, “Artist-Lovers”, Baars paid tribute to
Western female icons of the past such as Dora Mare, Lee Miller, or Kiki
de Montparnasse; yet her current opus entitled “L’Afrique !” clearly
marks a departure from the surrealistic style of her earlier craft. It
is also undeniably her most personal contribution to date.
Baars has long been inspired by art from the continent. With
“L’Afrique !”, an ongoing series since 2011, she continues her
exploration of the female form yet this time by looking through the
inscrutable prism of classical African art; more precisely taking
inspiration from cultural references such as sculptures, ritual masks,
corporeal scarification and so forth.
However “L’Afrique !” resonates a continuity with her previous
body of work, in the sense that it remains an abstraction of femininity.
Her imagery confronts with notions of objectification, sexuality,
maternalism and piety which can be confounding, as they equally attract
and repel. What ultimately remains powerful, is that each artwork
summons the attention of the viewer. Upon closer sight, a deeper sense
of fragility and humanity clearly dominates.
La Reine, 2011
Numerous Western artists have been inspired by the female African
figure. Although several post-colonial art gimmicks remain highly
questionable, many great masterpieces of the 20th century can be
directly linked to the African cradle. Strangely, the art world at large
still fails to acknowledge and appreciate the profound and resounding
role of the continent in the history of modern art.
In ancient Egypt, women were the catalysis of many divine attributes.
Often depicted as druids portending prophetic omens and the power to
convey the will of the gods, they conducted sacred rituals that would
have been considered unholy if performed by men. In Greek mythology,
women also gave form to countless monsters such as sirens, sphinx,
gorgons and chimeras and other demonized deities from the matriarchal
cultures of the past.
With “L’Afrique !”, Baars manages to shed a new light onto such
bygone dogmas. Far more than muses, mere objects of admiration or
pleasure sub-servants to the seemingly dominating male, her hybrid
creations are a crossbreed between goddesses and royal sorceresses.
Newly hatched divine entities that quietly dwarf over us as if to
reinforce the prevalence of a cosmic dimension substantial to the
manifold world of spirits.
Venturing closer to the realms of her own sub-consciousness, Baars
unbolts a sort of esoteric zeitgeist through which the spirits of all
women, mythical, god and earth like; mothers, daughters, sisters, wives,
widows and concubines are all transmuted into one fundamental paradigm
of spiritual enlightenment.
Ingrid Baars, Byeri, 2013. Courtesy of the artist.
Baars’s artwork is imbued with a sort of revolutionary essence that
unearths unique cross-cultural references. Her highly abstracted
representations of the African female form appears to echo the figurines
of the Pre-dynastic period as well as the dark ebony statuettes of the
royal court of ancient Dahomey.
Bodies are unusually interconnected, with mesmerising beak-like faces
that reveal mixed racial features. Amalgamated skin complexions
beautifully contrast with constituents of “nature morte” like precious
wood showing cracks or rusty nails that fuse with corporeal
scarification.
Traditional ornamental fragments are layered with various decorative
components that include frosted lace, encrusted gems and crystals,
exuberant head pieces or luminescent lip-gloss, often hinting to a
certain Western refinement. They all fuse to ultimately stem into
visually compelling artworks that would undoubtedly set off the radar of
many highly praised hair & make-up artists on red alert.
Rose Mary, 2012
Her formidable phantasmagorias transmit a compound message about
racial identity. They also emphasize the social, political, and
religious functions of femininity; one that is prevailing both within
the African and Western social contexts.
Attempting to blur the differences between the so called
”westernized” and the “traditional” African woman, Baars
deliberately chooses to hold her characters within an essentially
ethereal background in order to bring focus on their pure aesthetic
value.
With “L’Afrique !”, Ingrid Baars transmutes into a self-improvised spiritual medium. Provoking uncharted
subject matters such as mysticism and animism, she tackles with great
humour, kindness and temperance, issues that remain inherent to the DNA
of past and contemporary Africana.
In order to remain truthful to the essentially poetic psyche of her
oeuvre, Baars is willing to endure the sort of impracticalities that
many artists of today would not have the courage to face up to. This
alone, sets her far apart from the cohorts of her generation.
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