Kristin Baker (painter)

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Kristin Baker (born 1975 in Stamford, Connecticut) is a painter based in New York. She uses stencil and sign-painting techniques on PVC panels to create large, fast-looking works that blend representational imagery with abstract color. She earned a BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts / Tufts University (1998) and an MA in Painting from Yale (2002). Her work has been shown at major venues worldwide, including the Whitney Museum, PS1, Centre Pompidou, the Royal Academy, and the Hermitage; it is part of the Saatchi Collection. She is represented by Deitch Projects in New York.

Her early solo shows Flat Out (2003, New York) and Fall Out (2005, Los Angeles) linked painting to auto racing, exploring the tension between accident and control and the sport’s ties to technology and corporate sponsorship. Ride to Live, Live to Ride (2004) features a close-up crash rendered with bright, dynamic brushwork that mixes detailed imagery with abstract color.

In 2007’s Surge and Shadow she moved away from direct racing imagery but kept speed as a central idea, presenting large painting hybrids and wall pieces with influences from Futurism, Duchamp, and Géricault. A major sculpture, Flying Curve, Differential Manifold, expands the idea of painting into three dimensions, echoing Duchamp’s Tu m’ while continuing to push painting forward.