Charity Baker

New York Studio School

Artwork title: Lucy
oil on canvas | 48 x 36 inches

Tell us about the work that you have submitted.
Lucy is a work I made last summer while painting in upstate New York on the Canadian border. I wanted to make strong and meaningful figurative work within the expressive landscape, to create a psychological narrative. Here my friend Lucy is standing alone in a special hemlock grove named “Scott’s Hangout.”

How do you describe your work and practice?
My work is partially autobiographical. I am captivated by human interaction, intimacy and landscape. My paintings are also influenced by acosmist philosophy in which I develop figures to be transformative in our physical and spiritual society. My work is based on observation and experience.

What motivated you to apply to the AXA Art Prize?
The AXA Art Prize has a strong reputation in the art world and I am honored to be in this exhibition. As an emerging figurative artist, I was led to the AXA Art Prize because of its unique emphasis on and support of this genre in the contemporary art world.

What about figurative work do you find particularly inspiring?
I see painting as a technology that can explain the human spirit and our journey on this earth. The figure contributes a psychology to my paintings, and the rich history of figurative painting informs my subject matter.

www.charitybakerart.weebly.com
Instagram | @charitylynnbaker