Josephine Baker
Installation views
Objective objects, 2024. Group exhibition at Gallery daSein, Shenzhen. Installation view. Photo: Zhang Jinghua 
water-resistance, 2023. Solo exhibition at St. Chads, London. Installation view. Photo: Benjamin Westoby 
water-resistance, 2023. Solo exhibition at St. Chads, London. Installation view. Photo: Benjamin Westoby 
Frieze London Focus section, solo presentation, 2022. Installation view. Photo: Theo Christelis 
Clear out the wounds closest to the sun, 2022. Solo exhibition at V.O Curations, London. Installation view. Photo: Theo Christelis 
Clear out the wounds closest to the sun, 2022. Solo exhibition at V.O Curations, London. Installation view. Photo: Theo Christelis 
The Land Lies, 2020. Solo exhibition at ChertLüdde BUNGALOW, Berlin. Installation view. Photo: Andrea Rossetti 
The Land Lies, 2020. Solo exhibition at ChertLüdde BUNGALOW, Berlin. Installation view. Photo: Andrea Rossetti 
Installation view with Kira Freije and Tom Worsfold -
Bio
Through sculpture, installation and drawing, the work of Josephine Baker resides in the crossovers between human infrastructure and the natural world. The industrially-processed materials she uses are reconfigured and reimagined in the studio into fictitious landscapes, along with the creatures, weather patterns and phenomena that traverse them. Baker is focussed on asking how materials can become physical stories of the economic, ideological or human-centric forces that have played a part in producing them – from agriculture to resource extraction, geopolitics to gardening. As if in a microclimate of exchanges, the assemblages that make up her work are attempts to reveal the historical realities of their elements: Raw materials react to their consumer-product futures; landscaping tools take on animal form; and representations of pristine nature confront their role within territorial and imperial worldviews.
Josephine Baker (b. London, 1990) completed her undergraduate studies at Central Saint Martins in London in 2012, and her postgraduate diploma in 2017 from the Royal Academy Schools, London. She was a 12-month resident award holder at British School at Rome 2017–18 (Sainsbury Scholarship in Painting and Sculpture), and participant on the V.O Curations Studio Residency programme in 2021. Recent solo exhibitions include: water-resistance, St. Chads (London, 2023); Outfallers, Nir Altman (Munich, 2022); Frieze (Focus Section) solo presentation with Nir Altman (London, 2022); Clear out the wounds closest to the sun, V.O. Curations (London, 2021); The Land Lies, ChertLüdde (Berlin, 2020). Her work has been included in exhibitions at The British Museum, The Drawing Biennial at the Drawing Room, Pippy Houldsworth (London), Sundy (London), Love Unlimited (Glasgow), among others. Her book of drawings, Submarines, in collaboration with writer M. Ty, was published in 2022.
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CV
2014–2017 / Postgraduate Diploma / Royal Academy Schools, London
2009–2012 / BA Fine Art / Central Saint Martins College, London
2011 / Semester exchange / Pratt Institute, New York
2008–2009 / Foundation Diploma / The Arts Institute (AUCB), Bournemouth
Solo exhibitions:2023 / water-resistance, St. Chads, London
2022 / Frieze London, Focus Section w/ Nir Altman
2022 /Outfallers, Nir Altman, Munich
2021 /Clear out the wounds closest to the sun, V.O Curations, London
2020 /The Land Lies, ChertLüdde BUNGALOW, Berlin
2019 /Islands, Kupfer project space, London
2019 /Correction, Tintype, London
2018 /Night Music, British School at Rome, Italy
Group exhibitions:2023 / Art Cologne w/ Nir Altman, duo presentation with Susi Gelb
2023 / Pippy Houldsworth, The Box, London
2023 / The Italian Effect, Italian Cultural Institute, London
2022 /Drawing Attention: emerging British artists, British Museum, London
2022 / MiArt, Milan (duo presentation)
2021 /Wallwerk, Nir Altman, Munich
2021 / Drawing Biennial, Drawing Room, London
2020 /Well, well, well..., Sundy, London
2020 /Wreck or ruin, V.O. Curations, London
2019 /sottile spessore, progettoarte-elm, Milan
2019 /The Book of Dreams, Chapel on the Green, Wales
2019 /1d for Abroad, Tintype, London
2019 / Drawing Biennial, Drawing Room, London
2019 /Sheltering Sky, GAO gallery, London
2018 /Flood-tide, Love Unlimited, Glasgow
2018 /Trout Steel, The Horse Hospital, London
2018 /Serpent and Shadow, Royal Academy of Arts, London
2018 /Terraforms, The Concept Space, Bermondsey, London
2017–2018 / December 2017, March and June 2018 mostras / British School at Rome
2017 / RA Schools Show / The Farm, with Gabriella Boyd / Royal Academy Schools, London
Residencies & Awards:
2022 / Xenia residency, Hampshire UK
2021 / V.O Curations resident, London
2019 / Mark Tanner Sculpture Award – Shortlisted
2017–18 / Sainsbury Scholarship in Painting and Sculpture / British School at Rome
2017 / The Andre Dunoyer de Segonzac Hon RA Prize
2016 / The Ivor Rey Travel Prize, Paris
2015 / Summer Institute of Art residency, European Graduate School, Switzerland
Publications:
2022 /Submarines, Josephine Baker & M. Ty, Nir Altman (artist book)
2022 /Outfallers, Nir Altman (exhibition publication) -
Gallery exhibitions
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Works
Storm circuit 01, 2023, cabling, concrete dust, Dover chalk, glass, paint, pencil, pigments, plaster, silicone 78 x 14.5 x 54 cm 
Hydro Electricity: Spillway, 2023, cable fittings, ceramic tiles, electrical cable with cable tie, paint, pigments, pine, plaster, plywood, silicone, steel, 78.5 x 113 x 8 cm 
Outfaller 03, 2022 , Dowelling, glass, hedge trimmer part, paints, pencil, plastic tubing, plywood, sawdust, silicone, steel tubing, 204.5 x 33 x 12 cm 
Auger Jurassic coast, 2022, cables, cliff sand (Jurassic coast), dowelling, paints, patinated copper, pigments, pine, plaster, plywood, preformed pond sections, resin, rubber paint, rubber bands, steel spiral, steel tubing, wires, 219.5 x 80 x 91.5 cm 
Weather observations: Storm cycle, 2022, aluminium, glass, iron filings, paints, pigments, plaster, resin, rubber, steel lath, threaded bar, wood, 27.5 x 23.5 x 23 cm 
New grass, 2022, dowelling, grass trimmer, hook, woodcut prints on oak, 162 x 61 x 39 cm 
Interruptor 01, 2022, chalk, pencil, oil stick and wax crayon on paper, 14 x 21.7 cm 
Break test 03, 2022, chalk, charcoal, graphite, oil stick, pencil, spray paint and wax crayon on paper, 47.8 x 54.8 cm 
Hacker 01, 2022, chalk, charcoal, pencil, oil stick, wax crayon on paper, 38 x 56 cm 
Outfaller 01, 2021, asphalt roofing felt, cable ties, cardboard, cork, hedge shears, MDF, nails, paint, pine dowelling, rubber, 92.5 x 27.5 x 7.5 cm 
Excavator White Cliffs, 2021, aluminium tubing, artificial grass, clay, debris netting, Dover chalk, filler, glass, mortar, oak, pigments, pine, plaster, plywood, sand, silicone, screws, split rings, steel cable, steel threading, steel tubing, 367 x 131 x 74 cm 
Every tree hides a forest (1), 2021, bitumen roofing felt, cardboard, cork, filler, liquid rubber, oak, mdf, pigment, plaster, plywood (from reclaimed hoarding boards), netting, 122 x 45.5 x 10.5 cm 
Out light: security bulkhead l exterior industrial, 2021, aluminium tubing, blacklight bulbs, cable, cardboard, glass, iron filings, paint, pigments, pine, plaster, plywood, roofing felt, sand, silicone, 19 x 55 x 10 cm 
Abrasion coast (2), 2021, clay, dover chalk, glass, grout, nails, paint, pigments, plaster, playwood, sand, screws, silicone, tiles, washers, wires, 126 x 102 x 8.5 cm 
Landslide, 2019, chalk and charcoal on terracotta tiles, plywood, artificial grass, mortar, timber, painted mdf, 244 x 234 x 30 cm
