Baker Overstreet’s paintings rely on an aesthetic that is rooted in folk and primitive arts. He employs unbalanced symmetry and ornamental patterning to make emblematic compositions that define human or architectural figures while subverting familiar form. This inherent contradiction (between the familiar and unfamiliar, the worldly and other worldly) creates a space where individual elements clash. The resulting phenomenon allows for an altered state where the specificity of an image gives way to something open and universal. These paintings are a record of that shared commonality.

About the Artist
Baker Overstreet (b. 1981) graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art and recently received his MFA from Yale University. He has been included in a group show at China Art Objects. This is his first solo exhibition at Fredericks & Freiser. He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.