Willie Báez
Mostly self taught, Willie Báez also studied lithography at Parson’s School of Design; printmaking and graduate work at the School of Visual Arts. He was born in New York City, and presently resides in Miami Beach, Florida. Since the 90s, his paintings have been exhibited at galleries in New York, California, New Jersey, Florida and Spain.
FEATURED ARTIST
Practicing my craft for many years and caught between painting representational and semi-abstract works, I recently took a nosedive into the abyss of non-pictorial work to explore the “knowing of the unknowing,” as I refer to the experience. While enjoying the passage from figurative expression to not portraying the physical-ness of things, I put aside my conventional artistry and approach. With each painting, I freed myself to journey further into what I like to call “unconscious creativity” without thinking about any particular subject or leitmotif. In essence that is what the nature of abstract inventiveness embodies. At times this practice seems unhinged, nonetheless, my intention is not to be concerned with the outcome.
The small works depicted here are, essentially, about “whatever comes to mind” at the moment. Applying acrylic paints and collaging preprinted text in various languages, I began with no direction into the void. The content of the text is not about its meaning, yet its symbolism plays a crucial role much like nonsensical and infinite thoughts in our minds. Ripping and tearing paper is part of the physical pandemonium of the process; adding depth and texture with layered paint, oil pastel, markers and so forth. Sometimes the experience is a trance-like unconscious act. My forethought, however, is for viewers to exercise their imagination and not think too much about what they are looking at or what they think is being shown. Neither is it about whether they like what they see or not. If the observers can free themselves from reaction or entanglement and just be concerned with the energy and frequency of what is thrown back at them, I think I have accomplished my intent. If the work speaks to the viewer of a chaotic mess, then so be it. As for myself, I take pleasure in the process and embrace the chaos as a result.
Willie Báez, Miami Beach, Florida, 2021