Baker’s pastoral vision is qualified, however, by a strong admixture of Social Realism. If time moves slowly, we sense often that its weight is oppressive. The architectural incongruity of the buildings in Looking East After the Storm suggest a more general lack of direction or overall purpose. Likewise, in Evening Sun or Fall Sun the facades have a tonal flatness which hints at the banality of the lives within. But it is in the intensely lit but deserted areas of his night paintings that we feel most dramatically the loneliness and occasional isolation of this world.

Chris Baker earned his Master of Fine Arts degree at Rochester Institute of Technology, studying with the late Fred Meyer. His work has been included in prestigious juried exhibitions such as the Finger Lakes Exhibition at Rochester’s Memorial Art Gallery, the Cooperstown National, and at the Schweinfurth Museum in Auburn. He has had one-man shows at many upstate New York galleries. He has taught art in Cato, New York, for over twenty years, and in 1974 he was artist-in-residence at Letchworth State Park. Baker lives in Weedsport, New York, with his wife, Barbara.

Running Fences, gouache , 19"x13"

Pidgeons Take Flight