“ALL I WANT IS FOR YOU NOT TO SPEAK UNLESS YOU CAN IMPROVE ON THE SILENCE (bronze)”

Charming Baker is a new kind of art star. Emerging from the realm of graphic design into that of painting with no gallery representation and no dealer to speak of, Baker has enjoyed a steady stream of buzz courtesy of the Internet, endorsements from Damien Hirst and Frank Cohen, and a few dedicated collectors, including Sir Paul Smith—who’s christened the artist a global ambassador for his namesake brand. Today, upon the opening of Baker’s solo show Everything Must Go at Mercer Street Studios in London, VMAN spoke with the art market’s unlikeliest new folk hero. Jonny Coleman

“I’VE SURPRISED MY SELF BY COMING TO TERMS WITH THE END OF THE WORLD”

JONNY COLEMAN How often do you use real life observation (if ever) for reference? If never, how much do you use the internet versus a more privatized pool of references?
CHARMING BAKER I use both the internet and personal observation as a source of images. I used to trawl bookshops and buy expensive books, photocopy the pages I needed and then take the books back. The internet can be both liberating and frustrating at the same time. You can lose hours, days sometimes searching on the internet. I can spend days and days looking for something then end up then end up taking a reference shot myself.

JC You’ve described your work as being full of contrast. How do the patterns play into this?
CB I think humans are obsessed with patterns. I think we look for patterns in everything. In songs, in math, in physics, in relationships, in how we behave. For me patterns are just a device. You can manipulate the patterns to imply things in the paintings. Domesticity is just one of those things. Patterns give contrast. You can use them to build a world. I can paint a flat, patterned background without it being a flat background. You can play with it and the pattern can come through whatever you are painting. It becomes woven into the whole painting.

“DIGNITY RIDES A TRICKY PONY”

JC Although your style seems very fresh and current, most of the figures seem to come from anywhere in the last century. Are you trying to avoid any subject that feels too specific to now, as ‘nowness’ is so disposable for most people?
CB I don’t see the now as disposable. If you hang around long enough there comes a point where something disposable eventually becomes romantic. A lot of the themes I explore have been explored for centuries: life, love death, sex. I just explore them in a way that feels right to me. I don’t consciously avoid the now. I just don’t have a lot of time for what’s fashionable or cool and so don’t feel the need to reference it.

JC You’ve mentioned before that you like to think about the life a painting leads after it leaves your hands. What sort of life do you think your recent work has now that it is largely in the hands of Damien Hirst, Frank Cohen, and Alberto Mugrabi? What do you think of those guys?
CB I think that anyone who is spending money on art is wonderful, whatever level you are at. I know some paintings will end up in storage but I also know some have ended up on walls in some very prominent places. The problem is, there aren’t enough walls in the world. If all the paintings in all the world were hung out there wouldn’t be enough walls to hang them on. We need to build more walls. There’s a great museum in London called the Sir John Soane museum where they can pull out walls stuffed with art that can fill a whole room. That’s a great idea. Every home should have that.

“WHEN YOU MAKE YOUR GOD, MAKE IT A NICE ONE”

JC You have claimed it has taken you a long time to appreciate London’s subtle light, which might be a euphemism for its grey misery. Do you think it’s necessary to embrace Old Blightly’s gloom as part of your cultural identity, or do you see yourself moving anytime soon?
CB I can’t see myself living anywhere else but London. I always wanted to live here when I was younger and now that I’m here, I’m not going anywhere. I change as I get older. I start to like things I didn’t like before. I’ve learned to appreciate things that used to bother me. Maybe one day I’ll appreciate people with aggressive dogs and threatening attitudes. Maybe we’ll all romanticize about them one day.

JC Now that you have the art world’s attention, what’s been the most ridiculous offer?
CB I was in a taxi in Berlin and the cab driver offered to take sex as a payment instead of money. I paid cash.

“KNOWING NOTHING IS UNDER-RATED”

JC Critics almost uniformly point to a ‘sense of humor’ in your work. What exactly is humorous about it to you? The unlikely combinations of forms, or just the general style?
CB I’ve been described as facetious and I think a lot of that comes through in the paintings. I take that as a compliment, though. I paint some dark things, which I temper with something appropriately inappropriate. Like a boy falling to his death into a plastic table. Maybe the paintings are facetious rather than humorous. It’s a way of deflecting attention from the pain.

Charming Baker: Every Thing Must Go is at the Mercer Street Studios, 16 Mercer Street, London WC2, from July 7th through 31st

All images © Copyright Charming Baker 2011
www.charmingbaker.com

KEYWORDS: art, Charming Baker, London, Mercer Street Studios, Sir Paul Smith