ArtSeen
Nicholas Baker-Maffei
Sideshow Gallery
Couched in the artist’s pleasure, Baker-Maffei’s eight paintings, spanning from 2000 to the present, are testaments to the creator’s mood—whether sexual, intellectual, or technical. There is a delight in each of these works that make them vibrate on the walls like abstract records of some sensual epiphany.
Two large paintings—“Chien Chaud” and “Penetration & Clouds”—encapsulate the issues at work in his process, which he says in his artist statement are guided by desire. They both hang on the same wall and make the other works in the gallery appear rougher in their more centralized sparseness.
In “Chien Chaud,” French for hot dog, the layering of vibrant brushwork with a seam of quirky wiener forms provides the groundwork for experiments with color and composition. The various elements are intriguing in themselves but the work never allows his brush to overpower the design elements that obscure some of the joy evident. The sprayed-on central form is a surprise that does an effective job of softening the form but doesn’t do enough to eliminate the graphic quality.
“Penetration & Clouds” is a more sophisticated layering that perfectly learns from the lessons of 1970s abstraction and updates it to the digital era. It is an amalgam of seemingly hallucinatory forms that are at first obstructed by the overall graphic composition; each underlying element emerges slowly making it a very sophisticated visual. The painting is a mature meditation on disparate elements and only seems to work because of his innovative touch. The way that the forms gently shift across the surface is something that I can also describe as erotic.
When Yoko Ono asked Timothy Leary the qualities he most admired in a man, he replied, “Intelligence, Self-Confidence, Humor.” Baker-Maffei demonstrates all three.
Contributor
Hrag VartanianHrag Vartanian is a writer, critic, and designer. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES

Artist Worlds and Indigenous Cultures: How Expanding Notions of Intellectual Property are Changing the Game
By Alana KushnirSEPT 2023 | Critics Page
The number of artistic projects which engage with simulated realities, immersive story-telling, and virtual world-building has surged over the past few years.1 With this growth has come an increase in the types of legal complexities of artist-led world-building projects. One complexity that hasnt received much airtime to date is how Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) and cultural lore can be celebrated in, or conflict with, such projects.

Bridget Riley Drawings: From the Artists Studio
By David RhodesSEPT 2023 | ArtSeen
This is the first presentation in over fifty years dedicated to Rileys works on paper, and it includes over seventy-five works from the artists own collection.
Francesca Woodmans The Artists Books
By Karen ChernickSEPT 2023 | Art Books
Now, with the release of Francesca Woodman: The Artists Books, even the most informed Woodman fans are discovering that theres still more they didnt know about her. Of the eight artists books gathered in this volume, only one has ever been previously published and two were rediscovered recently (in the archives of The Woodman Family Foundation, which also include the many notebooks Woodman kept for to-do lists, ideas, and sketches).
Artist as Thinker: The Camargo Foundation
By Amanda Millet-SorsaJUNE 2023 | ArTonic
Conceived by American artist and philanthropist Jerome Hill (19051972), the Camargo Foundation is a residency for artists, scholars, and thinkers in Cassis, France. Hill became enamored by French culture during numerous visits to Europe with his family.