Baba Creme, 2015

The imagery for this edition is derived in part from what Michael Bauer calls his “telephone drawings” - quick, loose sketches made while talking on the phone or otherwise distracted. Bauer saves these doodles, no matter how rough or silly, and uses them as raw materials to be copied, scanned, altered, and combined.

Bauer often works in series, making groups of paintings that metaphorically “talk back” to one another while simultaneously standing on their own as individual works. As he says, “Every painting that I do relies on the last twenty I did.” In a neat literalization of his process, this print includes the words “baba” and “creme,” recurring terms Bauer uses as verbal readymades for their phonetic qualities and mutable meanings.

The amorphic, animalistic forms of German painter Michael Bauer are built upon color washes, meandering lines, and bulbous protrusions.

Utilizing a variety of rendering techniques and materials, including pointillism, text and high-chroma colors, Bauer transforms his free-form compositions into dynamic and ornamented abstractions. He borrows from the colorful tradition of Modernist composition, juxtaposing collaged cutouts with a bevy of 20th century painting methodologies-including Cubist, Pop, and Surrealist techniques-to make the swirling paintings he's become known for.

Says Bauer of his process, "I will say, especially in paintings, there is always a figurative sense behind it. I look at figures and I look at inventions of figures. But then of course once you paint, it jumps back and forth between something that could be a landscape but is also certain color arrangements. So you're constantly changing back in the way you look at it and in the way you work. It goes both ways."

Michael Bauer has had several museum exhibitions in Europe, including Villa Merkel in Esslingen am Neckar, Germany, Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel, Stadtische Galerie, Delmenhorst, Germany and Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Germany. Other exhibitions include Alison Jacques Gallery, London, Lisa Cooley, New York, Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, Norma Mangione Gallery, Turin, Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco and HOTEL, London.

All our frames are manufactured in the USA, using eco-friendly and sustainably sourced engineered hardwood for durability and a uniform finish that is free of defects. Frames are available in Black or White Satin and Honey Pecan.

All prints are hinged to a conservation quality, acid-free and lignin-free Alpha Cellulose matboard, using an acid-free linen tape. The mat's surface paper is fade and bleed resistant and is attached to a conservation quality foam-core mounting board that will keep the work safe from deterioration over time. Artworks with a deckled or decorative edges will be floated on the matboard, with acrylic spacers to separate the art from the glazing. All mounting is fully reversible, without any potential damage to the art.

All of our frames come with picture quality .090 mm plexiglass, which blocks 66% of UV to prevent color fading from exposure to light, keeping your art protected for years to come. It is now considered the industry standard for artists, museums and galleries throughout the world.

For images up to 30" x 40"

• 1 1/4” wide, 3/4” deep, with a 2 1/2” wide mat.
• We generally leave 1/4” - 1/2” of paper showing around the image, to accommodate signatures and for visual appeal.

For sheet sizes larger than 30” x 40" please contact an Artspace advisor for a custom quote.

Our art editions ship in 7 to 10 business days from New York.

Our framed art editions ship in 11 to 14 business days from New York.

This work is eligible for return within 30 days of receipt of delivery.

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