- Exhibition: Wildlife on the Edge: Hilary Baker
- On view: October 8, 2022 – March 6, 2023
- Public Reception: Sunday, October 9, 2022, 3 – 5 p.m. at the Wildling Museum
- Gallery Talk & Book Signing with the Artist: Sunday, November 6, 2022, 3 – 4 p.m. at the Wildling Museum
- Website: www.wildlingmuseum.org/news/wildlife-on-the-edge
SOLVANG — The Wildling Museum of Art and Nature is pleased to announce its upcoming 2022 fall exhibition, Wildlife on the Edge: Hilary Baker, on view from October 8, 2022 – March 6, 2023. The public is invited to attend an opening reception on Sunday, October 9 from 3 – 5 p.m. at the Wildling Museum.
Hilary Baker, Burrowing Owl, LAX, 2019, Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24 inches, Courtesy the Artist.
Wildlife on the Edge features new and recent acrylic paintings from Hilary Baker’s Predators series alongside a new series of animal portraits on birch wood. From a group of common pigeons to an elusive cougar, Baker’s subjects make themselves at home in urban locales inspired by Los Angeles landmarks past and present. Coupled with Baker’s alternatingly bright and moody color palette, viewers are provided a fanciful peek into the secret lives of their wild neighbors, often hidden in plain view.
“I consider my Predators portraits and present them straightforwardly,” says Baker. “Their gaze is oblique, their confrontation with the viewer unflinching and their presence – like the past – uncompromising. It might be argued that these mostly nocturnal creatures serve as stand-ins for any city resident attempting to co-exist with a disappearing homeland.”
The exhibition will also include video and photography highlighting native wildlife in the urban landscape, providing local context for creatures who make the Central Coast home, and exploring California wildlife crossings such as the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing currently underway at Liberty Canyon. A resource table will also offer visitors a chance for reflection with recent news on efforts to improve wildlife habitats and how the public can better coexist with animals in an increasingly modern landscape.
Hillary Baker
On Sunday, November 6th, 3 – 4 p.m. the Wildling will host a special gallery talk led by Hilary Baker, followed by a book signing of Baker’s recently published book, Hilary Baker: Predators and Other L.A. Stories (2021), which features a collection of essays on her work and includes photos of many of the paintings featured in the exhibition. To register in advance and to learn more, visit: www.wildlingmuseum.org/news/2022-hilary-baker-gallery-talk.
Grateful thanks to exhibition sponsors Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians and donors to the Patti Jacquemain Exhibition Fund. Questions? Contact info@wildlingmuseum.org or call (805) 686-8315.
About Hilary Baker
A Los Angeles native, Hilary Baker grew up among Hollywood’s film and music industry professionals. She spent her childhood roaming the hills around her home in the canyons, hunting for animal bones and avoiding the occasional snake. Her subjects, ranging from baseball and wildlife to Los Angeles’ history and architecture, are depicted in her signature graphic style. Known for her dissonant palette, her paintings hint at anxiety and mordant wit with unblinking clarity. In her film short, Ecce Cat, she paid homage to the sinister undercurrents of mid-century animation. Baker’s world is quarried from the strange, poetic, and darkly humorous with the confidence of a painter who is in the game for the long run.
Baker received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles, and her Master of Fine Arts from the Otis Art Institute (now Otis College of Art & Design). She has exhibited throughout the United States and internationally, including The Skulptur Projekt Münster and the Institut Franco-Americain, and has been awarded residencies at the Pont-Aven School of Art, the Ucross Foundation, Art Omi, and the Yaddo and MacDowell art colonies. Her paintings have been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Peripheral Vision, Art and Cake, Artillery, and New American Paintings. Her work is included in numerous public collections, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, the Crocker Art Museum, the Broad Art Foundation, Temple University, and the University of Southern California.
Baker’s curatorial projects include organizing the exhibition Archaeology, and co-curating Sexy: Sensual Abstraction in California, 1950’s -1990’s, and Blind Courier: 9 Artists and Their Notions of Place. Her work can be seen at r d f a, Los Angeles. She lives in Ojai, California, with her husband, the writer Philip DiGiacomo, in the shadow of the Topatopa Mountains.
Learn more about Hilary Baker and her work at www.hilarybaker.com and on Instagram at @hilarybakerstudio.
About the Wildling Museum
The Wildling Museum of Art and Nature, where art and nature meet, offers visitors a unique perspective on the importance of preserving our natural heritage. Through the eyes of artists, and education and field experiences, guests can renew their relationship with the wilderness and understand its fragile nature – hopefully leaving more committed toward ensuring those spaces remain for future generations. Current visiting hours are weekdays 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. and weekends 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday. For more information, and to volunteer or join as a member to support this important local arts and nature institution, please visit www.wildlingmuseum.org