logo

Jamie Baldridge | Playing with Arsenic | 22 February – 30 March 2013

Suddenly the glass of a window breaks into a thousand pieces and rather than a drama it seems to be a sweet liberation. Some minutes later, a swarm of airplanes overflies our heads turned into cubes by magic. Meanwhile, a dancer performs a ballet at the same time as the Hindenburg collapses in flames. Jamie Baldridge is daring with narratives full of symbolism and with great attention to detail, which are enigmatic and even incomprehensible, but always fascinating:

 “For me, every artwork begins with a small story that I write. This could be inspired by a dream, an experience or something I have seen in the media. I then make a visual translation of the story in the form of a detailed sketch. After that I call my models and get them to pose for photographs exactly as visualised in the sketch. I then combine these photos with a variety of digital images to build up the entire scene.” The works by Jamie Baldridge oscillate between topics as diverse as issues of gender, couple’s relationships, individual identity, and present politics, which he treats with a classical visual style -that is at odds with the latest 3D technology that he employs- and a tremendously cutting sense of humour:

“These artworks are composed of various moments, emotions, experiences and environmental stimuli. Seeing the finished works helps me understand better what was going on in my own mind when I made them. So a few months after I complete a series, I write a book, which has a story related to every artwork and ties the series together. As I look back at this series, I can see that it is about personal and political relationships. On the political level, the title refers to my country’s foreign policy, which is like playing with arsenic, a substance that is dangerous and destroys without leaving any trace”.

Curated by Juan Curto

In order to receive the press kit (press release and images) please contact us on (+34) 91 429 17 34 or e-mail info@camaraoscura.net