Andrew Baines (born 1963) is an Australian artist based in Adelaide, South Australia, known for his "quasi-surrealist" paintings of politicians in exposed positions and bowler-hatted office workers on beaches, and "living statues". He does a lot of work for charities, particularly those focussed on the plight of homeless people.
Baines grew up in the beachside suburb of Grange, spending school holidays at various other coastal places, including Coobowie on the Yorke Peninsula, Rapid Bay, Normanville and Kangaroo Island.[1] His father was a semi-professional soccer player and electrician. His mother was a housewife, who loved painting, reading and music. He has two younger brothers.[2] His mother placed drawing materials in his hands as soon as he could sit up and Baines showed great aptitude, astonishing a kindergarten teacher with his aerial perspective drawing of the area they lived in.[3]
He attended Grange Primary, and attended painting classes at the Henley and Grange Art Society when he was ten years old.[1][4] Baines became the cartoonist for the Western Suburbs Schools Soccer Newsletter that same year, earning two dollars a cartoon. He was also an unpaid profile artist for the Grange Primary newsletter.[2] By age eleven, he was selling pencil sketches for A$5to teachers and parents at the Grange Primary School.[3][5]
He then went to Seaton High School,[2][6] developed a passion for soccer player and worked for John Martins after finishing school at the age of 16, in 1979. There he produced artwork for the "Magic Cave" and backdrops for window displays, and met his future wife, Jacqueline.[1]
In 1980 and 1981, Baines spent two years at the South Australian School of Art[4][3] at Underdale, but clashes with his soccer training schedule caused him to drop out[1][4] and he returned to work at John Martins.[3]
Baines's work has attracted media attention through his "human sculptures" on coasts around the country, which have parallels with the work of Storm Thorgerson, known for his Pink Floyd album covers.[9]
Baines' work is represented by many major commercial galleries and is held in many collections across Australia and abroad, but as of July 2022[update] Baines his work has not made it into the Art Gallery of South Australia. A solo exhibition, The Search for Sanity, is mounted by BMGArt in July–August 2022.[6][10]
Busselton Bovines (February 2011) involved placing five Holstein Friesian cattle in the sea at Busselton, Western Australia.[18] It came about when Baines was approached by representatives of the national Dairy Innovators' Forum[19] at a gallery opening in Perth. A few local dairies agreed to take on the challenge of introducing their cows to the sea. Two months later the cows stood happily in the shallows, long enough for photographs to be taken. Local media embraced the event and news of the installation went global.[20][18]
Post Modern Backyard (May 2011) involved transporting eight full size Hills Hoists to Bondi Beach, New South Wales from Adelaide, and have them erected. Hills loved the concept and organised two professional erecters and eight Hills hoists to be in place at 5am on Bondi beach.[20][21]
In Waiting for the Bus (September 2012) one hundred "bowler hat-wearing, classic 'Englishmen'"[22] lined up along Henley Beach and struggled to read the newspaper in the wind.[12]
The Coalition of the Constipated (August 2012) at Henley Beach, South Australia was a political statement,[23] made to highlight the need for toilet facilities at the popular beach. Amanda Vanstone and radio personality, Bob Francis, were involved in the installation.[20] Vanstone had purchased his paintings, for herself and the Australian Embassy in Rome, when she was Ambassador, and Baines had painted Bob Francis' portrait as an entry in the Archibald Prize competition. Soho Galleries Sydney described it as his "most famous installation/photo shoot ... a guerrilla protest that featured 12 suited people sitting on toilets reading papers, on the water's edge at Henley".[24]
Doorways to Potential (January 2013) was a fundraiser, developed to raise awareness for non-profit charity Common Ground Adelaide, which provides assistance and aid to homeless people in the area. Local men, including former politician Alexander Downer, contributed A$1,500 each to the charity to participate, dressing in suits and bowler hats and gathering together on the beach, as a symbol of the possibilities that the future holds.[25]
Sea of Knowledge (February 2014) gathered people aged in their 70s, 80s and 90s on Henley Beach for a photoshoot to "portray their lives, roles and sea of knowledge in a bid to challenge the stereotypes of ageing".[26]
Commissions
Amongst others, Baines has been commissioned[1][27] to paint a book cover for Surf Life Saving in S.A., a wine label painting for Wirra Wirra Vineyard, a CD cover painting for ABC Classics, featuring the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra's Principal tuba player Peter Whish-Wilson,[28] and the cover for Steven Ogden's book I Met God in Bermuda.[29]
Baines was appointed as an art advisor to the UN, and as of July 2022[update] is working on a project about micro-plastics in the ocean, for Harmony Day. He commits himself to two charities per year, in particular those which assist the homeless. He has imagined the concept of statues of homeless "trolley women" in the city, with QR code that lead to the stories of their lives.[6]
Film, video and TV
A 2009 episode of Landline features Baines's interest in painting cows.[5]
Ash Starkey uploaded a three-minute screener to YouTube in 2010, which contains scenes from a half-hour documentary, Edge of Nothingness, that he made about Baines.[30]
In 2013, Photography Life released a one-minute time lapse film on Vimeo[31] of Baines setting up his installation, Doorways to Potential, on Henley Beach in South Australia.
Anna Creoddity released a short film (2014) on YouTube called Art Day! Andrew Baines, in which she shows and discusses his art work.[32]
In 2014, Baines, Aaron Schuppan and Carlo Petraccaro, produced a short film called Escape of the Corporate Battery Hens, which shows many South Australian identities in unguarded moments, including Amanda Vanstone, Steven Marshall, Vickie Chapman and Kirsten Alexander, former mayor of the City of Charles Sturt. The film, along with a short documentary, The Existentialist, about Baines' philosophy on life and art, were screened at The Arts Theatre in Angas Street, Adelaide, on 18 January 2015.[33]
Awards
As of 2022[update] Baines has not yet won a major art prize,[6] but has been a finalist in several, including:[1][4][27][34]
Baines is listed in the Lexikon der phantastischen Künstler.[35][36]
His paintings have appeared in such publications as ArtSlant New York,[37] and Glow Magazine.[38]
Related Research Articles
Frank Jeffrey Edson Smart was an expatriate Australian painter known for his precisionist depictions of urban landscapes that are "full of private jokes and playful allusions".
Peter Churcher is an Australian artist. He paints portraits and figures in a realistic style.
The Australian Cricket Academy was founded in 1987 as a joint initiative of the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and the Australian Cricket Board (ACB). It was initially located at Henley Beach in Adelaide before moving to the Allan Border Field in Brisbane, Queensland in 2004 and renamed the "Commonwealth Bank Centre of Excellence".
The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of almost 45,000 works of art, making it the second largest state art collection in Australia. As part of North Terrace cultural precinct, the gallery is flanked by the South Australian Museum to the west and the University of Adelaide to the east.
Ben Quilty is an Australian artist and social commentator, who has won a series of painting prizes: the 2014 Prudential Eye Award, 2011 Archibald Prize, and 2009 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize. He has been described as one of Australia's most famous living artists.
Janet Laurence is an Australian artist, based in Sydney, who works in photography, sculpture, video and installation art. Her work is an expression of her concern about environment and ethics, her "ecological quest" as she produces art that allows the viewer to immerse themselves to strive for a deeper connection with the natural world. Her work has been included in major survey exhibitions, nationally and internationally and is regularly exhibited in Australia, Japan, Germany, Hong Kong and the UK. She has exhibited in galleries and outside in site-specific projects, often involving collaborations with architects, landscape architects and environmental scientists. Her work is held in all major Australian galleries as well as private collections in Australia and overseas.
Elisabeth Cummings is an Australian artist known for her large abstract paintings and printmaking. She has won numerous awards including Fleurieu Art Prize, The Portia Geach Portrait Prize, The Mosman Art Prize, and The Tattersalls Art Prize. Her work is owned in permanent collections across Australia including Artbank, The Queensland Art Gallery, The Gold Coast City Art Gallery and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. She is notable for receiving recognition later in her career, considered by the Australian Art Collector as one of the 50 most collectible Australian Artists.
The Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize, formerly the Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize, is a biennial competition for artists, with a science theme, organised by the South Australian Museum in Adelaide, South Australia.
David Noonan is an Australian artist who lives and works in London.
Del Kathryn Barton is an Australian artist who began drawing at a young age, and studied at UNSW Art & Design at the University of New South Wales. She soon became known for her psychedelic fantasy works which she has shown in solo and group exhibitions across Australia and overseas. In 2008 and 2013 she won the Archibald Prizes for portraiture presented by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. In 2015 her animated film Oscar Wilde’s The Nightingale and the Rose won the Film Victoria Erwin Rado Award for Best Australian Short Film.
Yanggarriny Wunungmurra (1932–2003) was an artist, yidaki player and leader of the Dhalwangu clan of the Yolngu people of northeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia.
Basil Hadley was an English Australian printmaker and painter. His works are represented in National and State public galleries around Australia and in various private collections.
Udo Sellbach (1927–2006) was a German-Australian visual artist and educator whose work focused primarily around his printmaking practice.
Linde Ivimey is an Australian sculptor.
Lina Bryans, was an Australian modernist painter.
Julie Gough is an artist, writer and curator based in Tasmania, Australia.
Robert Boynes is a contemporary Australian artist working primarily in painting, but has also produced prints, films and sculptures.
John Neylon is a South Australian arts writer and arts educator as well as being an art critic, curator, painter, and printmaker. He is an art critic for The Adelaide Review, an author for Wakefield Press, and a lecturer in art history at Adelaide Central School of Art.
Margaret G. Worth is an Australian artist, who has worked as a painter, screen printer and sculptor. She studied music, pure and applied math and sciences before she turned to studies in art in 1962. Her art allowed her to seek to combine her wonder in science and spirituality. Her work is represented in the Australian national and state galleries, and in private collections in Australia and the United States.
Ash Keating is an Australian contemporary visual artist.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
