Glen Baxter: Inexplicably Vermillion
Flowers Gallery, London
14 January - 19 February 2022
"I Take My Tofu Medium Rare!" Warned the Stranger, 2020
Ink and crayon on paper, 79 x 58 cm
(c) Glen Baxter, courtesy of Flowers Gallery
"I'd Just Like to Remind You That We Were Supposed
to Share That Last Mondrian, Dirk!" Hissed Julian, 2021
Ink and crayon on paper, 78 x 59 cm
(c) Glen Baxter, courtesy of Flowers Gallery
British artist GLEN BAXTER is renowned for his unique style of social surrealism in which subjects from popular culture are combined with an absurdist message. In this exhibition of works on paper, Baxter explores a world in which art and language collide with baffling consequences, creating what he describes as the 'frisson' of replacing the familiar with the unexpected.
Originally a poet, Glen Baxter first read his poetry in 1974 at St. Mark’s Church, New York, before developing his distinctive drawing style, which combines images and text in the format of a single cell graphic panel. Deriving material from varied sources such as pulp fiction, adventure stories, and objects or foodstuff with names that he found intriguing (tofu for example,) Glen Baxter’s surreal scenarios form a playful critique of contemporary society and culture.
The Evidence Was Quite Clear Mrs Prenderghast
Had Moved Back into the Neighbourhood, 2021
Ink and crayon on paper, 78 x 59 cm
(c) Glen Baxter, courtesy of Flowers Gallery
GLEN BAXTER
Uncle Frank Taught Me Everything I Needed to Know
About Perspective, 2020
Ink and crayon on paper, 78 x 59 cm
(c) Glen Baxter, courtesy of Flowers Gallery
Glen Baxter works with a number of recurring personas who contemplate life's big questions in incongruous scenarios. The surreal humour of his captions arises from the use of tangents and non-sequiturs, or as he says, "drawing connections with things that shouldn't really be there," to create a dreamlike dislocation of image, text and meaning.
In this exhibition, Glen Baxter weaves surprising narratives featuring arctic picnics, cowboys pondering modern art, and clandestine gatherings of lepidopterists.
The exhibition coincides with the recent publication of his new book:
New Ways with Vegetables and Other Disasters
Published by Uitgeverij De Harmonie, NL, October 2021
GLEN BAXTER (b. 1944, Leeds, UK) studied at Leeds College of Art from 1960-5. He has produced numerous books, including Almost Completely Baxter: New and Selected Blurtings; The Billiard Table Murders; and Blizzards of Tweed. His work has appeared in publications such as The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Elle, and Vogue. Glen Baxter is a recipient of the French cultural award Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and exhibitions of his drawings and paintings have been held in New York, Paris, San Francisco, London, Munich, Tokyo, and Sydney. He participated in the Tusk Rhino Trail London, 2018; and Tusk Lion Trail, London, 2021. His work is in the collections of the Tate; the Victoria and Albert Museum; Centre Georges Pompidou; the de Young Museum, San Francisco; and the New York Public Library.
FLOWERS GALLERY
21 Cork Street, London W1S 3LZ
